The national government is creating ways to address the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), said National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 special adviser Dr. Teodoro “Ted” Herbosa on Tuesday, Jan. 25.
“Well iyong BARMM talagang binigyan namin ng special attention ‘yan even in the beginning of the vaccination campaign. In fact, iyong ating vaccine czar, si secretary Galvez ay matagal siyang na-appoint d’yan sa Mindanao so alam niya talaga ‘yung region na ‘yan (Well, we really gave BARMM a special attention even in the beginning of the vaccination campaign. In fact, our vaccine czar, secretary Galvez, was appointed in Mindanao for a long time so he really knows that region),” said Herbosa during the “Laging Handa” public briefing.
The statement came after President Rodrigo Duterte, during the Talk To the People public briefing which aired on Monday evening, Jan. 24, said that he is concerned about the growing vaccine hesitancy in BARMM due to their culture and religion.
Meanwhile, Herbosa said that among the strategies of the government was to provide a single dose vaccine in the region.
“Ang ginawa natin ay nagbigay tayo ng maraming Johnson and Johnson (J&J) na bakuna, iyong single dose or one shot vaccination kasi malalayo iyong mga lugar na pinanggalingan nila at hindi ganoon karami ang vaccination site diyan sa BARMM so ginamit natin ‘yung single dose (What we did was we gave a lot of J&J vaccines, the single dose or one shot vaccination because those places where they come from are far away and there are not many vaccination sites there in BARMM so we used the single dose),” he added.
Herbosa likewise stressed that Muslims need halal vaccines to get inoculated.
“Another issue again is the halal-type na vaccine. I think may ibang vaccines na hindi yata halal so alam noong mga ating Muslim brothers kung alin ang iyong halal at pinipili nila iyong vaccine na ‘yun. So very important na mag-align tayo kung ang gusto nila ay iyong halal-type vaccines (Another issue is the halal-type vaccine. I think there are other vaccines that are not halal so our Muslim brother knew which one was halal and they choose that vaccine. It’s very important that we align if they want halal-type vaccines),” he addded.
According to Herbosa, the national government should explain the benefits of getting vaccinated in order to prevent vaccine hesitancy in the region.