EDITORIAL - Don’t punish the unvaccinated

Cebu City is promoting those establishments that are giving discounts, freebies, and other perks to individuals who have received the vaccines against COVID-19.

Meanwhile, in another local government unit, officials are proposing banning people from going to certain areas if they have not been fully vaccinated. Specifically places like public markets, department stores, supermarkets, groceries, and convenience stores.

There is nothing wrong with incentivizing or encouraging people to get vaccines. In fact, it is like hitting two birds with one stone; people will want to get vaccinated and a business owner gets to run his or her establishment during this difficult time.

However, it is not okay to punish those who have not gotten their vaccines yet by limiting the places they can access.

We keep raising this point; the Philippines will never have enough vaccines for all 109 million Filipinos. This is why we are going for herd immunity; that means getting a number of the population inoculated against the virus, just enough to break the chain of transmission.

If we are going for herd immunity that means some of our population may never get the vaccine because they no longer need to.

But right now it seems some officials still think there will be enough vaccines for all of us. There never will be.

Also, these officials should realize that it is no longer a matter of vaccine hesitancy. Almost everybody today knows about the Delta variant and how more contagious and deadlier it is. While the hesitancy is gone in most people, the vaccine supply is still a problem in many areas throughout the country, and even in many countries throughout the world.

Many of those who are actually unvaccinated are that way because they have no choice in the matter. It is not for lack of trying that they still haven’t gotten their jabs.

Yes, there is nothing wrong with giving perks to those who have been vaccinated, but there is also no need to discriminate against those who haven’t gotten their shots yet.

Because in the end that’s what it is; discrimination.