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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Lacson urges DOH: Launch aggressive COVID-19 vaccine info drive

Lacson urges DOH: Launch aggressive COVID-19 vaccine info drive

Published May 2, 2021 11:26 am

Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Sunday urged the Department of Health (DOH) to mount a more aggressive information drive about the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines to improve Filipinos trust in these shots.

Lacson warned the vaccines that may arrive in the next few months may go to waste mainly because many Filipinos have low trust in them.

"What our officials, including Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, should do is to improve the public's trust in vaccines, instead of just announcing when the vaccines will arrive,” Lacson said in an interview on Radio DZRH.

“Besides, if very few Filipinos are willing to be vaccinated, the vaccines that actually arrive may go to waste," he added.

He said that while the government is doing everything to bring in the vaccines, the vaccines may just be left to expire if people are not willing to be vaccinated.

Lacson also said putting emphasis on prevention and cure is as important as—if not more important --than being too engrossed with the number of infections and deaths.

The senator noted the government seems to be more focus on the number of new COVID-19 cases and how many died of the disease.

“Hindi ba dapat forward-looking tayo? Kausapin natin ang mga kababayan natin, magkaroon tayo ng information campaign. Magtiwala kayo sa bakuna kasi sa ngayon wala tayong ibang makakapitan kundi ang bakuna (Should we not be forward-looking? We should convince the public via an information campaign to trust that the vaccines are our only hope against the pandemic for now)," he stressed.

The government earlier received another 500,000 doses of Sinovac’s CoronaVac last April 29, Thursday, completing the 1.5 million doses ordered from the China-based drug manufacturing company.

Some 15,000 doses of the Sputnik V had also arrived in the Philippines on Saturday, May 1. The country is considering procuring 20 million doses of Sputnik V from the Russian-based Gamaleya Institute.

Related Tags

Panfilo Lacson covid-19 vaccination program Vaccination Program covid-19 vaccine
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