To be or not to be…

In literature class in high school, we were taught about the Shakespearean play where Hamlet, in a soliloquy, uttered the most famous cryptic line, “To be or not to be.” Although this has been the subject of various comments, the common interpretation is Hamlet’s contemplation and vacillation about life and death through suicide.

This comes to mind as Filipinos prepare for the rollout of vaccines that the government will procure against the dreaded Covid-19. Unfortunately, the vaccination campaign is expected to hit a snag. Initial hope was replaced by hesitancy, anxiety and doubt. Infodemic about the vaccines’ safety is the culprit. There are just too many negative reports and opinions advanced by both claiming to be experts and pseudo-epidemiologists in multimedia. Reports about its adverse side effects have triggered resistance to the vaccines. And Filipinos are now at the crossroad of choice, a situation not unlike the quandary of Hamlet — to be or not to be vaccinated.

There is a growing number of anti-vaxxers. According to the recent Pulse Asia survey, about 47 percent of Filipinos are averse to vaccination for fear of their life, while 32 percent favor it. In the survey conducted by the Department of the Interior and Local Government in Metro Manila, only three out of 10 residents are open to vaccination. This is a major problem. With those figures, we cannot achieve herd immunity, which requires at least 80 percent of the population to be inoculated. Reports of deaths and severe consequences after vaccination have raised global concern.

Some of the notable side effects after a jab are swelling, redness, fatigue, fever, headache, aching limbs, “allergic shocks” and “facial nerve paralysis.” Most worrisome is the report that 33 who were more than 75-years-old with co-morbidities in Norway died a few days after the first vaccine. Reuters reported about a number of Russian doctors and health professionals refusing to be vaccinated because of the dearth of information about the vaccines. And in a latest video making the rounds in social media, a “72-year-old Filipina in New York from Caloocan was admitted to the hospital after suffering a strange illness after being injected with the first of the Covid-19 vaccine.” And as we go to press, another unsettling report says, “A returning overseas Filipino worker from the United Arab Emirate who has been vaccinated (with two doses)… tested positive for Covid-19 upon arrival in Mandaue City, Cebu.” It’s unnerving.

This brings us to the truth that even the World Health Organization and other expert agencies have entertained doubt about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines. The painful fact is that none of these

vaccines being marketed has completed clinical trials, which normally take years or decades to determine their safety and efficacy. That is the reason why all these vaccines were only allowed for “emergency use authorizations,” or EUA.

How Filipinos could overcome their hesitancy is a challenge for government, especially the Department of Health. They must reboot their information campaign machinery about the vaccines.

Without herd immunity, our country will sink deeper into the quagmire of economic recession and stagnation. Its concomitant effect of poverty, restriction of travel, loss of jobs and the paralysis of economic levers will worsen. This is a real emergency situation, which might provoke draconian measures like mandatory inoculation for all Filipinos.

It hurts our pride that in the race toward vaccination and economic recovery our country is eating the dust of our ASEAN neighbors. Lately, there is a report of concern by senators about the country “lagging behind its vaccination program,” saying the “delivery date of vaccines to the country remains unclear amid the absence of any signed supply agreement.” While most of ASEAN have started rolling out the jab, we are “left behind” in the procurement and administration of the vaccines. We are in limbo when these vaccines will come ready for injection. Even President Duterte has expressed impatience.

Me? As of today, I am on a wait-and-see mode. The thought of a foreign element injected into my system makes me uneasy. I have to form my decision based on medical science and not media reports.

“It hurts our pride that in the race toward vaccination and economic recovery our country is eating the dust of our ASEAN neighbors.

“With those figures, we cannot achieve herd immunity, which requires at least 80 percent of the population to be inoculated.