Senatorial aspirant and retired national police chief Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar urged on Thursday, Jan. 13. the Department of Health and other concerned agencies to address the misinformation and disinformation in the social media which assail the efficacy of the COVID-19 amid the upsurge of cases in the country.
Eleazar said this matter should be clarified by the DOH so that people will still avail of the vaccines especially at this time wherein there is a spike of COVID-19 infections.
“Parang nangingibabaw ngayon ang mga argumento sa social media na parang walang epekto ang bakuna dahil ‘yung mga bakunado at ‘yung may mga booster ay nagka-Covid pa. Parang lumalabas ngayon na parang walang silbi ang bakuna (It appears that the prevailing arguments now in the social media is that the vaccines have no effect because even those who were vaccinated have been infected. They make it appear that vaccines have no use),” Eleazar said.
“Dapat linawin ito ng DOH para maintindihan ng ating mga kababayan kung ano ba talaga ang benepisyo ng bakuna. Kung hindi natin lilinawin ito, baka wala na nga talagang magpabakuna (This should be clarified by the DOH in order for the public to fully understand the benefits of being vaccinated. If this is not cleared and corrected, the goal of vaccinating as many people may be compromised),” he added.
Among the usual arguments being raised by some who opposed the vaccination are: "Baklt nahahawa pati bakunado? (Why are vaccinated people still get COVID) and "Wala pa lang epekto ang bakuna" (Vaccines have no effect).
Eleazar, who got vaccinated last year, got infected by the coronavirus. But he said is asymptomatic.
Health experts have been repeatedly saying that the vaccines will give those who get the jab a protection and not immunity from COVID which means that the vaccines will protect the vaccinated from severe effects of the deadly virus.
Based on the DOH data, more than 80 percent of COVID-infected people at the Intensive Care Units are unvaccinated.
Eleazar then stressed the need for the DOH and other concerned agencies to strengthen the information dissemination campaign, especially in social media platforms, about the benefits of getting anti-COVID shots.
More than 115 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were already administered, according to the National COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard.
It added that 53,389,481 were already fully-vaccinated against the virus.