More Filipinos are now willing to get the vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and this made vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. happy.
Galvez, in a televised meeting with President Duterte on Monday night, Jan. 24, said the constant reminders of the government to the public to be vaccinated “have finally bore fruit.”
“Mr. President, marami pong salamat at nagbunga po ang ating constant reminders dito sa ating mga programang ‘Talk to the People’ dahil naiangat po natin sa mataas na antas ang vaccine willingness (Mr. President, thank you so much because our constant reminders thru this program ‘Talk to the People’ have finally bore fruit since we were able to increase the vaccine willingness of the people),” he stated.
Galvez said that the government started the national vaccination program with a vaccine willingness of 16 to 32 percent among the public during the first and second quarter of 2021. He said this further shot up to 87 percent in December.
In a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) from Dec. 12 to 16, 2021, vaccine hesitancy – or the unwillingness of people to get the anti-COVID shots – declined to eight percent in December 2021, which was twice lower compared to 18 percent in September 2021.
“Ito po ay nagpapatunay ng patuloy na tiwala sa inyong administrasyon ang ating mga mamamayan at sa magandang dinudulot ng bakuna to prevent hospitalization and death (This only proves the continued trust of the people in the administration and in the benefits of the vaccine to prevent hospitalization and death),” Galvez stated.
He said various strategies to persuade the people also helped in raising the vaccine willingness including the conduct of talk shows and town hall meetings, incentivizing vaccinated people, the restriction on the mobility of unvaccinated individuals, and efforts to combat vaccine misinformation and disinformation.
Galvez also thanked the Department of Health (DOH), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), other government agencies, local government units (LGUs), private sector, and the Filipinos who heeded the call of the government to get the life-saving jabs.
As of January 24, a total of 57,268,257 individuals have already been fully vaccinated while 59,799,215 have received their first dose.
The fully vaccinated population represents 73.33 percent of the target 77 million eligible population that the government aims to vaccinated within the first quarter of 2022.
Meanwhile, a total of 6,298,336 individuals have also availed of third dose or booster shot.
Nine regions have fully vaccinated at least 70 percent of their target population namely National Capital Region (NCR) with 109.28 percent; Ilocos (Region 1) with 81.44 percent; Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) with 79.87 percent; Cagayan Valley (Region 2) with 78.29 percent; Central Luzon (Region 3) with 77.87 percent; Calabarzon (Region 4A) with 74.30 percent; Western Visayas (Region 6) with 73.32 percent; Davao (Region 11) with 71.37 percent; and Northern Mindanao (Region 10) with 70.02 percent.