Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto. INQUIRER file photo / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines — Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto on Tuesday called on the public to trust government-approved vaccines against COVID-19, in view of more people expressing apprehensions of getting anti-COVID shots once they are available.
“Tama po iyan, ako rin, anecdotally, nagtatanong tanong tayo, marami talagang kinakabahan sa bakuna. At sa isang banda, normal naman po iyon, lalo na medyo bago nga iyong bakuna na lalabas so normal po iyon,” said Sotto over ABS-CBN Teleradyo, reacting to public fear on vaccines against the severe respiratory disease.
(That’s right, me too, anecdotally, we are asking and a lot of people are nervous about the vaccine. In another point of view, this is normal, especially because these are new vaccines so it is normal.)
“Pero hinihikayat ko po na bawat mamamayan, bawat Pasigueño, bawat Pilipino, na magtiwala po tayo sa mga medical experts, magtiwala sa mga dalubhasa na pinagaralan, na nireresearch po iyong tungkol sa bakuna. Dahil kung walang bakuna, napakarami pa ring may polio. Kung walang bakuna napakarami pa ring may tigdas,” he added.
(But I am urging our countrymen, all Pasigueños, all Filipinos, to have faith in our medical experts, have faith that they studied, researched about the vaccines. If there are no vaccines, there will still be more people with polio. If there are no vaccines, there will still be more people with measles.)
“Kaya alam natin na epektibo ang bakuna basta may FDA [Food and Drug Administration] approval ito. Makakasiguro tayong ligtas ang bakuna na ito,” the mayor further said.
(That’s why we should know that a vaccine is effective as long as it is FDA approved. We can assure that it is safe.)
In a survey from pollster Pulse Asia, nearly half of Filipinos do not want to get inoculated against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The survey results showed that most Filipinos believed that the vaccine is not needed to cure the respiratory ailment or it may not be free.
Despite this development, Pasig City ordered 400,000 dosages of vaccines from British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca in a bid to give free vaccines to its constituents.
The city government also trained vaccinators to be deployed once the COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out.
As of January 11, Pasig City reported a total of 9,928 cases of COVID-19. This includes 179 active cases, 9,355 recoveries, and 394 deaths.