WE HAVE the money, the City Council having appropriated P400 million for the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines as early as in December last year. So why haven’t we signed a deal with any of the vaccine manufacturers until now?
It is false to assert that we are not in any worse position than the other local government units in the race to acquire the vaccine. The cities of Bacolod, Quezon, Davao, Baguio, Manila and Iloilo and a few smaller cities, among others, have already signed tripartite and non-disclosure agreements with the national government and AstraZeneca. Some may have already made advance payments as authorized by President Duterte.
But at least we’re moving now. Last week, the council met with representatives of two vaccine manufacturers. A few days later, they authorized Mayor Edgar Labella to negotiate the acquisition of P200 million worth of vaccines. The quantity is not enough to immunize the city’s nearly one million population or at least that portion that would enhance herd immunity, but it’s a good start. Even one shot is better than none at all.
Maybe, city officials are counting on the national government to provide the balance. Indeed, why spend for something that you can obtain free? The P200 million savings can be re-programmed for other services.
Not everyone will take the vaccine anyway. There are many of them who have probably been influenced by all the disinformation being peddled in the Internet or traumatized by our experience with Dengvaxia or have not outgrown their fear of injection, which is unfortunate.
In a column she wrote for the Washington Post yesterday, American book author, CNN analyst and former Baltimore Health Commissioner Leana Wen cited the need for health authorities to fully explain the significance of vaccination. Is it a free pass to travel? Can they revert to their old lifestyles, no more wearing of masks and no more physical distancing?
So far, Dr. Wen said, what has been made clear is that starting 14 days, after a person has received his second dose of the vaccine, he does not have to quarantine anymore even if he was exposed to someone with Covid-19.
“After all, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are 95 percent effective at preventing symptomatic illness and nearly 100 percent at preventing severe disease. These are astounding results,” Dr. Wen, who was born in Shanghai, China, said, “and essentially mean that Covid-19 in a vaccinated person is no worse than a bad cold or a flu.”
Compare that to the situation of the unvaccinated. He runs the risk of becoming seriously ill and even dying from Covid-19. If he’s working, he cannot transmit the disease to his co-employees who have been vaccinated but may get the coronavirus from the latter since “the research is not definitive on whether vaccinated people can transmit Covid-19,” according to Dr. Wen.
To be vaccinated or not to be vaccinated, that is the question. Life is a matter of choices, someone wiser once wrote, and sometimes there are no second chances.