MEDIUM RARE
Jullie Y. Daza
A study in contrasts is a study in presidential styles.
PRRD threatened to go house to house to vaccinate the unwilling in their sleep, even if the jab would need to be administered into one ear and out the other. Three days ago, PBBM went to an SM mall with his congressman-son, and together they gamely rolled up their sleeves to receive their shots from DOH OIC Dr. Ma. Rosario Vergeire and Manila Mayor Dr. Honey Lacuna, respectively.
One report said Wednesday’s “PinasLakas” event was not only a crowd drawer but crowd pleaser as well because the sight of the Marcos father and son getting vaxed was enough to convince their audience-witnesses to step up to the plate. Good jab, Doctoras!
Dr. Vergeire has lectured, explained, nagged to underscore the importance of being fully vaccinated, as have other public health advocates, but their intended listeners are either deaf or beyond tenderizing. On July 22, Vince Dizon of the National Task Force under IATF proudly disclosed that Metro Manila was “107 percent vaccinated,” the extra 7 percent attributed to the megacity’s transient population of outsiders.
I don’t hear the words “herd immunity” being tossed around, the 107 percent notwithstanding, which is just as well, for if denizens of the megacity are already immune, why should the unvaccinated bother to bother?
Meanwhile, Mayor Marcy Teodoro commended Marikina for its high passing grade: 91 percent of seniors have had three jabs. San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora said not a single dose of vaccines has been allowed to expire. The mayor of a city in the Visayas was scandalized to learn that his predecessor had over-ordered a huge supply of vaccines before losing the election. Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte’s come-on is a five-kilo bag of rice for first-booster recipients. And so it goes.
“The pandemic is not over”: WHO’s turn to lecture, explain, and nag. Amid reminders to observe “minimum health protocols,” it has been months since I was asked to produce my vaccination card at a mall or restaurant. Movie houses are back in business, though not all of them. The shocker came when Mae called to declaim, joyfully, that it was time to “be free again, no more Covid, Americans and Europeans are completely mask-less!”