Poor people harder to convince on need for vaccination — Mayor Binay

Makati City Mayor Abby Binay on Wednesday said that convincing lower income people to be vaccinated proved to be a challenge because they feel it is unnecessary considering that they are most of the time in their homes. 

In a forum, Binay was asked about the willingness of her constituents to receive the COVID-19 vaccines.

“Feeling ko it comes from lower class, because those are the ones that have been imprinted and…'yung na-trauma doon sa Dengvaxia,” Binay said.

“So yung hindi magpapabakuna, hindi ka lang magpapabakuna, sa bahay ka lang. Hindi ka naman magtatrabaho, so they don’t feel there is a need to have themselves vaccinated,” she added.

Compared to people with low income, Binay pointed out that the middle class is more open to vaccination because they are regularly working and socially active.

“Kapag nakipag-usap ka sa mga middle class, sa more informed, they are ready to have themselves vaccinated. So medyo doon may challenge, 'yung sa lower income,” she said.

“If you plan to travel abroad, I'm sure it will be a requirement to be vaccinated,” she added.

Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya earlier said the biggest challenge for local governments in the COVID-19 inoculation drive is the low demand among their target recipients.

Health experts also said that Filipinos’ trust and confidence in vaccines may be the next challenge in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Monday, San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora said only 28% percent of the target recipients of COVID-19 vaccines in the city have registered for inoculation so far.

With this percentage, Zamora said, the Department of Health (DOH) informed the local government that San Juan City now has the highest number of registrants for the vaccination rollout in Metro Manila.

Earlier, Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian said the city's online registration traffic for COVID-19 vaccination was sluggish.

In Quezon City, meanwhile, Mayor Joy Belmonte earlier said only 37,899 out of 74,793 residents who answered a survey said they were willing to be vaccinated. According to her, 10,819 residents refused to get vaccinated while 26,725 said they were undecided. —LBG, GMA News