Malacañang did not express alarm over reports that Filipinos in classes D and E were still hesitant to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) but said this may change the moment many people have received the jab.

In his press briefing on Thursday, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the Palace was not alarmed as the country does not have enough shots to inoculate everyone anyway.

"Unang-una hindi pa po tayo naaalarma kasi hindi pa naman dumarating talaga ang bulto ng ating mga bakuna (First of all, we are not alarmed because the bulk of our vaccine procurements have not arrived in the country yet)," he said.

"Hindi pa natin kayang bakunahan talaga ang lahat at the same time (We cannot really vaccinate everyone at the same time), he added.

Roque, meanwhile, expressed confidence that the hesitancy will disappear once the people see that many have already received the vaccine.

"Umaasa ako na doon sa pag-aaral ng SWS, bagama't merong hesitancy, mawawala ang hesitancy pag nakita nila ang mga kapitbahay nila ay nabakunahan na (I am hopeful with the Social Weather Stations survey that despite the hesitancy, it will disappear once people see their neighbors getting vaccinated)," he said.

"'Yan naman po ay nangyayari na (That is happening already). We have seen a substantial increase in the reduction of hesitancy," he added.

Roque cited an SWS survey that supposedly said that 50 percent of Filipinos are willing to get vaccinated while 30 percent were "hardcore" against it. However, a non-commissioned SWS survey released on May 20 found that only 32 percent of adult Filipinos were willing to get vaccinated.

He may have been referring to the SWS survey that showed that 51 percent of adult Filipinos were confident about the government’s evaluation of COVID-19 vaccines.

Addressing the hesitancy

Meanwhile, Roque said the government has intensified its information drive to quell the public's concerns about the coronavirus shots.

"'Yan (Hesitancy) po ngayon ay subject ng intensified communication campaign ng gobyerno (Hesitancy is the subject of the intensified communication campaign of the government), DOH (Department of Health), Office of the Presidential Spokesperson, PCOO (Presidential Communications Operations Office), and even the private sector," he said.

"Kasi nga po, kung hindi natin ma-a-achieve ang (This is because if we cannot achieve) population protection, no one will be safe," he added.

Instead of herd immunity, the DOH said on Wednesday that the country was now eyeing "population protection" against COVID-19 before the end of the year. But what is the difference between the two?

Herd immunity requires 70 to 80 percent of the country's population to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Population protection, on the other hand, targets to vaccinate the members of the population who are more susceptible to the disease and are likely to show severe symptoms.