Lacson to DOH: Ramp up info drive while awaiting vaccine supply

Senator Panfilo Lacson on Sunday urged the Department of Health to heighten its information drive on the benefits of vaccination, while the ordered vaccine supplies have not yet been delivered.

In a statement posted online on Sunday, the Senator said "While waiting for COVID-19 vaccines to actually arrive, the DOH needs to mount an information drive to improve the public's trust in vaccines."

He warned of the possibility that the vaccines, once available in the country, may just be wasted because many Filipinos have low trust in vaccination.

"What our officials including Health Sec. Francisco Duque III should do is to improve the public's trust in vaccines, instead of just announcing when the vaccines will arrive," he was quoted as saying on national radio.

"If very few Filipinos are willing to be vaccinated, the vaccines that actually arrive may go to waste," he added.

He noted that while the government is doing everything to bring in the vaccines, the jabs may just be left to expire if people are not willing to be vaccinated.

Moreover, he said focusing on prevention and cure is as important as -- if not more important -- being too engrossed with the number of infections and deaths.

"Lagi natin tinitingnan araw-araw, binibilang natin ilan natamaan ng COVID, ilan namamatay" (We keep on focusing on the number of infections and deaths every day), he said.

"Kausapin natin ang mga kababayan natin, magkaroon tayo ng information campaign. Magtiwala kayo sa bakuna kasi sa ngayon wala tayong ibang makakapitan kundi ang bakuna" (We should convince the public through an information campaign to trust that the vaccines are our only hope against the pandemic for now)," he pointed out. —LBG, GMA News