Sen. Win Gatchalian. Senate PRIB file photo / Joseph Vidal
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Tuesday warned of a prolonged delay in the resumption of face-to-face classes should the government fail to regain the trust and confidence of the public in the government vaccination program against COVID-19.
Gatchalian, chair of the Senate basic education committee, urged the government to do ways to regain public confidence on its COVID-19 vaccination program in light of a recent survey showing that nearly half of Filipinos are unwilling to get inoculated due to safety concerns.
The senator called this hesitancy a result of the “Dengvaxia damage,” which he said eroded the public’s trust in vaccinations.
“Magiging malaki ang problema natin kung walang magpapabakuna laban sa COVID. Hindi tayo makakabalik sa normal na pamumuhay,” he said in a statement.
(We will face big problems if people refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19. We won’t be going back to our normal lives.)
“Dapat nating tugunan ang pangamba ng ating mga mamamayan pagdating sa pagpapapabakuna upang matuldukan na natin ang krisis na ito,” he added.
(The government should address the public’s concerns about the vaccine so that we could see an end to this crisis.)
For the basic education sector, the concern of the majority of Filipinos regarding the vaccine would mean prolonged delay in the resumption of in-person classes for more than 22 million public school learners nationwide.
He also emphasized the need to be transparent on the potential side effects of COVID-19 vaccine shots and how these can be managed.
Further, he reiterated his call to include teachers in the priority groups for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 chief and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier said that the government is eyeing to launch its vaccination program by the end of February.
The Philippines has so far recorded a total of 489,736 COVID-19 cases. Of the number, 458,206 have already recovered while 9,416 have died.