Vaccine hesitancy is no longer the concern for some senior citizens who refuse to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) since they argue that they're bound to die anyway.
This was according to Health Undersecretary and National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) Chairperson Myrna Cabotaje during a Laging Handa public briefing on Monday, Feb. 21.
"Di nila naiintindihan na 'pag sila'y nagkasakit maaffect din yung kanilang pamilya (They don't understand that their families will also be affected when they get sick)," Cabotaje said.
The health official said that around 2.4 million senior citizens remain unvaccinated against COVID-19. Based on the data she shared, 68 percent have received their first dose, while 70 percent are fully vaccinated.
Cabotaje said that one move that they are considering in order to vaccinate more senior citizens is to make the process a lot faster and convenient for them. The government is also looking to put vaccination centers closer to areas where there are a lot of senior citizens so that they will no longer have to travel far just to get vaccinated.
She said that it's important to vaccinate senior citizens since they are the ones who are the most at-risk and the most vulnerable in terms of getting infected by COVID-19. If they get infected, Cabotaje stated that they will be the ones mostly occupying hospitals, highly at risk of getting a serious disease, and dying from it.
She added that even if other age groups will get vaccinated and senior citizens will be left out, there's a chance that hospitals might get filled up with patients and severe cases as well as COVID-19 deaths may increase.
Most problems they encounter involving senior citizens according to Cabotaje, are in BARMM and in the northern part of the country wherein they mostly cite cultural and religious beliefs. She said that the government will look for more ways to convince them to get vaccinated.