SWS: 9 in 10 Filipinos worried about getting COVID-19
Many unwilling to get vaccines, surveys also suggest
MANILA, Philippines — Nine in every 10 Filipinos were worried about contracting COVID-19 nearly a year since the country reported a case of the severe respiratory illness, a Social Weather Stations survey showed.
The survey, conducted from November 21 to 25, found that a record-high 91% of 1,500 adult respondents were concerned that they or their family members might catch COVID-19.
Broken down, 77% said they “worried a great deal,” 14% were “somewhat worried” and 3% answered they were “worried a little.”
Only 5% said they were “not worried” about getting the virus that has so far infected 482,083 and killed 9,356 people in the Philippines.
November’s figure surpassed the previous record of 87% in May 2020 when the polling firm first surveyed about it.
Worry about getting COVID-19 was highest in the Visayas at 96%, followed by Mindanao at 95%, Balance Luzon at 89% and Metro Manila at 85%. The capital region, which remains the epicenter of the local coronavirus outbreak, accounts for 44% of the country’s confirmed cases.
The worry level among women rose to a record-high 93% from 84% in September. It also rose among men from 85% to record-high 90%.
The survey also found that “Filipinos have always been more worried than Americans about catching COVID-19.” The United States accounted for the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 21.53 million and 364,691, respectively.
Health authorities are bracing for a post-holiday surge in cases and the new and more contagious variant of the virus that causes COVID-19. The variant currently sweeping the United Kingdom has not yet been detected in the country based on the analysis of recent samples but the Philippine Genome Center.
Experts warned that once it reaches the Philippines and eventually becomes the most prevalent variant in the country, it would lead to much higher number of infections.
Unwillingness to get COVID-19 jabs
While a vast majority expressed worry about contracting COVID-19, only 32% of Filipinos said they will allow themselves to get vaccinated, results of a separate Pulse Asia survey showed. Forty-seven percent said they are not willing to be inoculated with COVID-19 jabs, with 84% saying they were unsure of its safety.
Findings of the Pulse Asia poll differed significantly from that of an SWS survey conducted in September, which showed 66% of adult Filipinos were willing to receive COVID-19 jabs, while 31% were not.
A poll of OCTA Research also suggested that only 25% of the 600 respondents from Metro Manila are willing to be immunized against COVID-19.
The government faces the difficult task of conducting a COVID-19 vaccination campaign, which relies heavily on public trust that vaccines are both safe and effective, after the botched dengue vaccination program. The highly-politicized controversy eroded public trust on vaccines, which took decades to establish, despite no established links of deaths resulting from Dengvaxia inoculation.
Vaccination czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said the government wants to inoculate 50 million to 70 million Filipinos in 2021 alone as it hopes to close negotiations for 148 million doses with drugmakers this month. This target, however, depends on the global supply where 80% had already been procured by other nations.
So far, only 2.6 million doses of the vaccine developed by British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca have been secured by the country from a P600-million donation by the private sector.
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