Robredo warns ban on disclosing vaccine brand may 'backfire'
Although she understands the intention of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) not to announce the available vaccine brands in the various vaccination sites across the country, Vice President Leni Robredo fears that this may backfire on the government’s vaccine drive.
Robredo said in her weekly radio show that the public may instead not register to get vaccinated because they do not know what vaccine brand is available in their locality.
“May karapatan ‘yung bawat isa. May karapatan iyong bawat isa magdesisyon na ‘yung iturok sa kanya iyong brand na mas may tiwala siya (Everyone has a right. Everyone has a right to decide what brand of vaccine they trust),” she stressed.
The vice president noted the strategy might work against the goal to vaccinate as many people as possible.
She explained that those who are willing to be vaccinated with a certain brand might not get registered at all if they are not sure what brand will be administered on them.
The solution, Robredo said, is not to hinder the information about which vaccine brands are available, but to boost the public’s confidence in all the available vaccine brands in the country.
President Duterte last week criticized Filipinos for wanting only United States-made Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which have efficacy rates of 95.3 percent and 94.1 percent, respectively. The next day, the DILG said that LGUs can no longer announce which vaccine brands are available on their sites.
The Department of Health (DOH), however, clarified that people will still be informed what vaccine brand will be used on them once they arrive on the site. They can either accept or refuse the brand. If they refuse, they have to return to the “back of the line.”
Robredo said that the better way to deal with people’s preference for certain vaccine brands is to educate them that all brands promise 100 percent effectiveness against severe symptoms and hospitalization.
“Iyong sasabihin naman kapag andun na, okay naman iyon. Again, papaano kung hindi magregister dahil dun? (What they’re saying that when the people are there, it’s okay. Again, what if they don’t register because of this policy?),” she asked.
Filipinos prefer a particular vaccine brand because of the efficacy rates, so the challenge is to educate them on why it is important to get what vaccine is currently available.
But Robredo stressed that people have a right to know what vaccine is waiting for them at the site.
“Hindi pwede na walang informed consent. Kasi katawan natin ito, hindi pwedeng sapilitan (It cannot be done without informed consent. Because this is our body, it should not be forced on us),” she said.
Robredo isn’t a stranger to people who don’t want to get vaccinated. One of the drivers, Julius, who works at the Office of the Vice President (OVP), was hesitant to get vaccinated despite having a co-morbidity. He’s just one example as Robredo cited there are many more who have apprehensions of getting the COVID-19 jab.
READ: https://mb.com.ph/2021/05/19/robredo-receives-first-dose-of-astrazenecas-covid-19-vaccine/
It took a while for Robredo and her staff to convince Julius to get the jab until their schedule on May 19.
Robredo also got vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine on May 19 as part of the A3 or people with co-morbidities category.