November 7th, 2021
The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) already includes up-to-date vaccinations of children as a conditionality. I see no reason why COVID-19 is to be considered an exception for this requirement. That said, while it would certainly address vaccine coverage, vaccine hesitancy is a matter of trust. The people appear to discriminate among brands, and there’s nothing much that we can do to dissuade them about these preferences.
I myself was vaccinated with Sinovac, as was nearly my entire immediate staff and family. And we have not seen any breakout in cases among them, and I have not had any serious side effects. All of the approved vaccines are safe, and I appeal to our people not to be choosy with the brands.
But, we also have to adapt our vaccine procurement with vaccine demand. Which vaccines run out faster? If certain brands are preferred, we should accordingly adjust. It is pointless to procure enough vaccines for everyone, if not everyone will take it willingly.
I also see some issues with vaccine registration. Some LGUs do the registration better than the others. I think we should help LGUs come up with better registration mechanisms.