Presidential Adviser on Anti-COVID-19 response and testing czar Vivencio Dizon hailed the significant decrease on vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos which will contribute in efforts to achieve the desired herd immunity by the first quarter of this year.
Dizon, who was with Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat in the launching of the Resbakuna sa Botika at Watson’s in SM City Baguio, said that the relentless efforts of the government to vaccinate as many people as possible for them to be protected against the dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has paid off which will help in containing the spread of the virus among the populace.
From the high 36 percent vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos when the government started vaccinating in March 2021, the Palace official said this dropped to only 8 percent last December, an indication that more people are convinced that they will get added protection when inoculated, apart from their compliance to the prescribed minimum public health standards.
He pointed out that the government continues to venture on other strategies to make the vaccines accessible to the people to protect them from the severe complications of the virus once they will contract the same.
According to him, concerned government agencies and local governments are taking the extra mile to continue informing and educating the people on the importance of being vaccinated.
Earlier, the government achieved its first milestone when some 54 million Filipinos or 50 percent of the population were vaccinated towards achieving population protection by the second week of January after it failed to reach the same during the end of 202.
By the end of the first quarter, the government aims to inoculate some 77 million Filipinos or approximately 70 percent of the population to achieve the projected herd immunity against the possible mutations of the virus.
Aside from the opening of vaccination sites in drug stores and pharmacies in the different parts of the country, the government intends to also open vaccination areas in public places to entice people who frequent such places to be vaccinated right on the spot.
Dizon said that there are sufficient vaccines available for inoculation to interested persons and for those who want to avail of booster shots.
Moreover, the government is planning to replicate the conduct of the Bayanihan Bakunahan in the coming months to have more people vaccinated as a repeat of what it held last November and December where more than 17 million vaccines were inoculated to the people that availed of the existing vaccines.
