Amid the increasing number of infections in the country, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy in the Philippines went down from 22 percent in September 2021 to 5 percent, an OCTA Research fellow confirmed on Thursday, Jan. 27.
Results of the nationwide survey conducted from Dec. 12 until Dec. 17 revealed that the country’s COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy of adult Filipinos had dropped to five percent, OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David said.
“It’s down to 5 percent and if we recall the history of our surveys, originally back in 2020, the vaccine hesitancy was as high as 75 percent, meaning only 1 out of 4 Filipinos were willing to get vaccinated,” said David in an interview over One News’ The Chiefs.
David likewise stated that safety, religious and personal beliefs, and comorbidities were still the most quoted reason for hesitancy.
“This five percent is accounted for by mostly religious beliefs, personal beliefs, and comorbidities which is also possible,” David stated.
Meanwhile, David said urged the national government to ramp up its vaccination drive, especially in areas with low vaccine coverage.
“I hope we can use up all these vaccines, get boosters also, and at the same time vaccinate those in areas with low vaccine coverage,” he added.
As of Jan. 26, the Department of Health’s (DOH) National COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard revealed that a total of 125,089,117 doses have been administered in the country. Of this number, 58,149,158 individuals have been fully vaccinated while 60,088,821 individuals have received their first vaccine dose.