The Department of Health (DOH) said that several people are still eager to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) despite the non-announcement of vaccine brands to be offered in inoculation sites.

“So iyon pong mga past days na nasabi na nga po natin na wala ng announcement ng brands, mataas pa rin naman po ang nakikita nating pagbabakuna, especially here in the NCR Plus bubble (The past days that we have already said that there is no announcement of brands, we are still seeing high vaccinations, especially here in the NCR Plus bubble),” said DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Saturday, May 22.

“Nakita natin na pumupunta pa rin po ang ating mga kababayan (We observe that our citizens are still coming ),” she added.

Vergeire maintained that public will still be informed of the vaccine brand that they will be receiving.

“Pagdating po nila sa vaccination site they will be counseled, sasabihin po sa kanila anong brand iyon, at bibigyan ng informed consent (When they arrive at the vaccination site they will be counseled, they will be informed what brand it is, and will be given an informed consent form)---- if they will consent to be vaccinated,” she assured.

Meanwhile, Vergeire acknowledged that brand preference is one of the factors influencing vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos.

“Kailangan po maintindihan ng ating mga kababayan na ang mga bakunang meron tayo ngayon sa ating bansa ay dumaan sa stringent regulatory process na na siguro natin na ito ay ligtas at effective (The public needs to understand that the vaccines available in our country have gone through a stringent regulatory process, ensuring that these are safe and effective),” she said.

“Pag tiningnan po natin ngayon ang real world data, makikita po natin na yung mga bakunang nasa bansa natin ngayon have good performance against pre-symptomatic infection, preventing hospitalizations, preventing deaths (If we look at the real world data now, we can see that the vaccines available here have good performance against pre-symptomatic infection, preventing hospitalizations, preventing deaths),” she added.

The efficacy rates of vaccines should not be the only basis for brand preference, said infectious disease expert Dr. Anna Ong-Lim.

“So I think one thing that we have to realize is that if our basis for preferring a brand is because we heard that efficacy is like this and it has better protection for example. Tandaan natin na itong mga vaccine efficacy numbers na pinagbabasehan, maaari ng preference ng mga tao, they are very fluid (Let's remember that these vaccine efficacy numbers that some are using for their (brand) preference are very fluid),” she said.

“In fact, iyong mga numbers na kinu-quote noong primero, medyo bumababa na ng bahagya ngayon iyan, kasi dumadami na iyong database, lumalaki ang database at siyempre nag-a-adjust (In fact, that numbers that were reported initially are decreasing a bit now because the database is expanding, thus, it is adjusting),” she added.