EDITORIAL - It’s about time

After putting it off for quite some time, President Rodrigo Duterte finally received his first shot of the vaccine against COVID-19.

The president was administered a Sinopharm vaccine in Malacañang Palace last Monday night. He later shared information as well as a photo of the event online.

It’s about time he did. Getting vaccinated, even with just the first dose, was something he should have done a long time ago.

As an old man, he may not have wanted to take the vaccine, as he was so fond of saying, citing his fatalistic as well as philosophical views. However, in case the president didn’t realize it, the issue about him getting his jab wasn’t just about him anymore, but a matter of national interest.

Like we said in an earlier editorial; he isn’t just a man, he happens to be the head of a nation whose decisions impact the lives of 110 million people.

Saddled with this responsibility, he also has the responsibility to keep himself healthy. Especially from something as unpredictable as COVID-19 and all its mutating variants.

After all that, we can also say that he had to get vaccinated because the man who occupies the highest office of the land is a frontliner himself. He is expected to respond to a brewing national crisis at any time. And right now they seem to be coming at us left and right.

His getting vaccinated isn’t just good because it ensures to some degree that he stays capable of running the government, and that this administration, for all its shortcomings, will still go on and this country will not slide into disorder. It is also good because it may also influence many of those who still have second thoughts about getting their jabs for whatever reason.

While we do face an issue regarding the volume of vaccines we are getting from friends and so-called friends, the bigger underlying issue is the one about vaccine hesitancy. Because until now, many uninformed Filipinos still think vaccines do them more harm than good.

With any luck, President Duterte’s getting his jab will also get others to change their minds.