EDITORIAL - Wait for the vaccine, but don’t take it easy

Cebu City residents will be provided the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available, or so goes a promise from Mayor Edgardo Labella.

“In addition to the commitment of the national government, I have to discuss this with our Local Finance Committee and of course maybe with the Sangguniang Panlungsod, that we will provide this COVID-19 vaccine to our people in the City of Cebu,” Labella was quoted as saying in a report in this paper.

We applaud the mayor for making this vow. It’s like he says; the health of a city’s constituents should be its top priority.

However, we would like to caution Cebu City residents, or residents of any city struggling during this pandemic crisis for that matter, that they should not count solely on the promise of a vaccine as the only or the best solution to the problem.

This is because of the fact that the world’s foremost experts in vaccine development have repeatedly been saying a successful vaccine will not be available anytime soon.

From development to clinical trials to ensure its safety for use by a general population, a vaccine will take time. How much time are we talking about? Months, maybe even up to a year or more.

What about those alleged COVID-19 vaccines floating around the internet marketing sites? Don’t even bother. Those are just fake medicines being peddled by charlatans. At best they are just placebos, at worst they can do even more harm.

Yes we should wait for a vaccine to come; we do not have much choice in that matter after all. But until one arrives we should not rest on our laurels in this fight and do all that we can to prevent the spread of the virus the best we are able.

In case some of us have forgotten, as what seems to be happening in this time of General Community Quarantine, that entails wearing a face mask in public, observing physical distancing, avoiding non-essential travel, and staying inside our homes when we have no important business outside.