If there’s public clamor, Duterte to get publicly inoculated

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — If there’s a public clamor for it, President Duterte is now willing to be inoculated in public against COVID to overcome Filipinos’ vaccine hesitancy, his spokesman said yesterday.

Surveys and informal consultations have shown Filipinos’ resistance specifically to COVID vaccines made in China. It is unclear if Duterte is willing to get the Chinese-made vaccines.

About 500,000 doses of Chinese firm Sinovac’s vaccines are expected to arrive in the Philippines on Feb. 23. The jabs could arrive ahead of the 117,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that the country will initially get under the COVAX Facility of the World Health Organization.

Duterte arrived in Davao City over the weekend for a number of engagements. He is staying here also for the birthday of his partner Cielito Avanceña today.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases also scheduled its weekly meeting at the Arcadia Activity Center last night.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the President changed his mind about being vaccinated in public to encourage more Filipinos to avail themselves of the vaccination program against the COVID-19 pandemic.

At 75, the President belongs to the seniors’ priority group.

“He only has to announce when it will be done and that’s of course in recognition of the fact that the people are waiting for a sign whether or not to get themselves vaccinated,” Roque added in mixed English and Filipino.

“The President has said, ‘OK, if you want me to,’ and there’s public clamor, he said he will,” the Palace spokesman said. A Pulse Asia poll conducted from Nov. 23 to Dec. 2 last year found 47 percent of Filipinos saying they won’t get COVID-19 jabs mainly because of safety concerns. Only 32 percent of the respondents were willing to be vaccinated while 21 percent were undecided.

The President will be vaccinated in public as long as his doctors allow him, Roque said, unlike last month when he said Duterte wanted it done in private.

The chief of the Philippine Navy, meanwhile, is also willing to be inoculated in public to show fellow soldiers and everybody else that there is nothing to be concerned about regardless of what vaccine brand will be used.

“I am willing to make my inoculation public to allay fears of our countrymen with COVID-19 vaccines,” Vice Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo said. “By making public my vaccination, I believe that I can help the national government build confidence and ease the general public’s hesitancy with COVID-19 vaccines.”

“What’s important are its benefits to help mitigate the effect of this pandemic. As recent studies show, COVID-19 vaccines will help put an end to this pandemic,” he said. – Michael Punongbayan