The biggest argument that those who are against vaccination to stem the tide of the Covid pandemic, or the so-called anti-vaxxers, are using nowadays is the fact that even those who are fully vaccinated are infected with the virus. “Unya nganong magpabakuna pa man ta?” they then would say.
It is rather convincing, especially if the answer to that is much too technical or too medical, if you will, to be understood by a layman. So I got interested in reading an article on the matter to find out why. I did find the answer but could only relay what I understood from the expert: Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is US President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser.
The explanation was that the vaccines are actually not meant to prevent the vaccinated from getting sick with Covid because the antibodies that they develop mainly protect the lungs and not the nose where the virus enters. Meaning that the sentries are not necessarily standing in front of the door.
That is why we often hear doctors say that while vaccines do not necessarily prevent us from getting sick with the virus, they do the most important thing, which is prevent the illness from getting worse. Getting worse means the patient either needing hospitalization or he or she passes away.
Vaccination, therefore, is not everything. The vaccinated still needs to be careful by looking for additional protection, like following the suggested minimum protocols. Wearing a face mask helps even if you are already fully vaccinated. So too physical distancing and the constant washing of the hands and disinfection. The lesser the chance for the virus to enter your body through the nose or eyes, the better. This is what the new normal is about.
That is why when you say that getting vaccinated is useless, you are wrong. Any kind of protection is better than having no protection at all. The worst thing for us to do is when we gamble with our lives. That is why we keep hearing stories of the unvaccinated who are sick saying, “Maayo pag nagpabakuna ko da.” Which brings me to the popular Cebuano saying: “Way pagbasol nga mag-una.”
As for the government, with the people’s education on the need for vaccination rising, a steady supply of the vaccines is needed. The National Government alone cannot do it. This is where the help of the local government units and the private sector is needed. The waiting time for the vaccine supply to arrive should be shortened.
Cebu Province and the highly urbanized cities in Cebu should not play the waiting game. Those with the resources to buy the vaccines should make this known to the National Government in order for those stringent rules on vaccine procurement to be loosened a bit. We can’t win the race against the delta variant of the virus by not taking the initiative. Especially now that many Cebuanos have been vaccinated and the vaccines needed for the unvaccinated are already minimal. Meaning that the spending will be less than when the vaccination effort first started.