In Cebu, we have a special talent for surviving almost anything.
Traffic? Sige lang.
Brownout? Sige lang.
Flooded street? Roll up the pants and
keep walking.
A habal-habal suddenly appearing from nowhere? Hold on, pray, and pretend you knew what was happening.
But tipdas?
Dili ni apil sa atong “sige lang” culture.
Yet here we are, with fewer children getting fully vaccinated against measles and rubella, while the conversation seems increasingly focused on fear of the vaccine rather than the diseases it is designed to prevent.
So when did the vaccine become the villain?
Social media has certainly helped. One Facebook post becomes a medical textbook. One TikTok video becomes a clinical trial. One forwarded Messenger message becomes gospel.
Sometimes the medical qualification of the person giving advice is simply having Wi-Fi.
Meanwhile, tipdas is waiting quietly in
the corner.
The irony is painful: we are becoming afraid of the shot while becoming less afraid of the disease.
The numbers should make us uncomfortable.
In 2024, the Philippines recorded 3,356 measles-and-rubella cases and 11 deaths from January to September. In 2025, nationwide cases climbed to 5,123. Publicly available reports do not provide a complete, verified three-year death count specifically for Cebu, so we should not manufacture one.
But there is another number worth
remembering.
Central Visayas had only about 61.82 percent fully immunized children in 2024, far below the 95 percent coverage needed for strong community protection.
And then there is rubella, the quieter cousin.
Ask an average parent about it and you might hear:
“Rubella? Unsa na?”
Rubella is different from measles. It may be mild in children and adults, but infection during pregnancy can seriously harm an unborn baby, including causing miscarriage, stillbirth or congenital rubella syndrome.
That deserves more than a footnote in a vaccination campaign.
So who is to blame?
Fake news? Parents? Social media?
Government?
Perhaps everyone has a share.
Misinformation is dangerous, but government cannot simply blame Facebook and walk away.
Government has a responsibility to communicate clearly.
We can get rapid statements when politicians are criticized. Political controversies generate press conferences, rebuttals and counter-rebuttals.
But ask a parent: Where can I vaccinate my child? Is my child fully immunized? What does the measles-rubella vaccine protect against?
Sometimes the answer arrives with the speed of Cebu traffic.
Too late.
Public health communication cannot be
an afterthought.
Parents deserve facts, not political noise. They deserve honest explanations about vaccines, possible side effects, benefits and where to get them.
Parents, meanwhile, also have a responsibility.
If your child’s vaccination card has been sitting in a drawer since the last fiesta, take it out.
Check the schedule. Visit the health center. Ask a pediatrician or qualified health professional.
Do not outsource your child’s health decisions to the family group chat.
And please, before believing the uncle who says, “Wala man ko nagpavaccine sa una, buhi man gihapon ko,” remember that surviving something is not proof that it was safe.
Measles does not care about political parties.
Rubella does not care about Facebook arguments.
Viruses do not read press releases.
They simply spread.
So perhaps the question is not, “Why should I fear the vaccine?”
It is:
Why are we allowing fear of the vaccine to make us forget what the vaccine protects us from?
Cebu has enough problems—traffic, floods, brownouts, political drama and karaoke that refuses to die.
We do not need preventable diseases added to the list.
The vaccine gets blamed. Tipdas gets forgotten.
Let us remember the disease before it reminds us why we needed the vaccine in the first place.
