This weekend is historic. After more than a year of fighting and protecting ourselves from the dreaded Coronavirus, the vaccines that are supposed to be our salvation from it finally landed on Philippine shores.
The first two to arrive are China’s Sinovac, followed by the United Kingdom’s AstraZeneca. With these developments, the government’s vaccine rollout finally gets started this week, starting with the country’s medical frontliners.
From there, vaccination will move on based on a pre-determined pecking order, before it finally reaches the general public. As we all await our turn for our shot-in-the-arm salvation, Thrillmaker decided to ask some celebrities what their thoughts are on vaccination, in general. Are they ready and willing to give it a shot?
GLORIA DIAZ, Miss Universe 1969. Of course! Absolutely! Yes! Pero let’s make the politicians go ahead, tapos we’ll soon follow. Di ba? Hahahaha!
DARYL ONG, RNB Artist. To be honest, di ko pa sure. Takot ako eh. Sa ngayon, di ko pa siya masagot. Actually, topic din yan sa amin sa family na magpapa-vaccine ba tayo, kailangan ba talaga? Or enough ba talagang mag-ingat na lang, lahat ng pwedeng gawin to avoid yung mahawa. Ako personally hindi pa ako decided kung magpapavaccine ako. Siguro kung magiging batas siya, then I will have no choice but to get vaccinated.
KATRINA VELARDE, Suklay Diva/VIVA Artist. Yes, depende sa vaccine. Meron na ba ngayon? Hindi kasi ako aware kasi nagwowork kami sa labas and I don’t have time watching TV and nagso-social media detox din ako kasi ang toxic na rin sa social media. Pero, I am but it depends with the brand.
KELLEY DAY, Reigning Miss Eco-International Philippines. I am willing to be vaccinated. I just think that the priority should be, first of all, our frontliners, the elderly, the people who have pre-existing medical conditions. Since I am a young and healthy individual, I don’t think that I will be rushing into getting the vaccine since we do have a limited supply. I think if there is enough supply for everyone, yeah, I’m more than willing.
DIANE QUERRER, PTV News Anchor. Yes. It is my duty as a Filipino to have myself and my community be protected. It is high time that we all work together to the nation’s road to recovery.
ARIELLE AGASANG, A-List Filipino Fashion Designer. Personally, I am against being vaccinated. My fear of the vaccine dated back from the dengvaxia issue where many people especially children had died. Now that the mass vaccination is just around the corner, I feel uncomfortable, wary, and fearful. The quality and delivery of the vaccine is under question. Not to mention the agency and the people behind the mass vaccination who are not health experts. There is no guarantee as of yet as to the effectivity of the vaccines from Moderna, Sinovac and the likes. So I will not compromise myself from getting devastated of the possible negative effect of the vaccine.
RENE NAPENAS (Queen Charot Maharot), NCCA Public Affairs Head. Yes, I am willing to be vaccinated because I believe that the vaccine has been thoroughly studied by science to cure the virus. Further, I believe in the global movement by world leaders and medical professionals to put an end to this pandemic. In this time and age of social media, we have been seeing Filipinos in other parts of the world having their vaccine shots already. As a Filipino, I am ready and committed to partake if it means being one of the firsts to be tried upon by the effects of the vaccine. If this means sacrifice, I am willing to take on.