Galvez mulls vaccination of 4Ps recipients to address hesitancy

Philippine vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Thursday said he is looking into the mandatory vaccination of recipients of the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) to address vaccine hesitancy.

Galvez said that to address this, the government must intensify its information drive on the efficacy of the vaccines as well as give out incentives.

“Nakita ko katulad ng mga tinatawag natin, ‘yung binibigyan ng 4Ps dapat pag binigyan sama na ‘yung vaccination… parang sinasabi natin pagka walang vaccine, walang ayuda,” he said in an interview on ANC.

(Recipients of the 4Ps should simultaneously be given aid and vaccinated against COVID-19… like we are saying if you are not vaccinated, you won’t have aid.)

“Nakita natin sa Las Piñas ginawa ‘yun, ang dami nagpabakuna (they did this in Las Piñas and a lot of people got vaccinated),” he added.

According to a poll conducted by independent monitoring group OCTA Research from September 11 to 16, only 61% of adult Filipinos are willing to get vaccinated.

Meanwhile, 22% of adult Filipinos said they were not willing to get vaccinated, with vaccine hesitancy highest in the Visayas at 32%, followed by Balance Luzon at 24%, and Mindanao at 19%.

The nationwide poll was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 Filipinos. OCTA said it had a sampling design with a margin of error at ±3%.

4.5 million J&J doses

Meanwhile, Galvez said the government is expecting to distribute 4.5 million doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine to the Bangsamoro Region by November.

“Talagang problema natin ‘yung hesitation. When we deployed ‘yung 3 million J&J ang taas ng acceptance. Actually, tinanong kami kung pwede ba J&J ‘yung ano namin,” he said.

(The problem is really the hesitation. The acceptance was high when we deployed 3 million J&J doses. Actually, we were asked if we can administer J&J there.)

Due to this, Galvez said the Philippines had ordered 6 million doses of the vaccine.

“Baka this november baka dumating yung 4.5 million and we intend to deploy it to different areas of BARMM. Considering also Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, tsaka Basilan. Very ano, tinatawag natin advantageous yung J&J na single siya,” he said.

(The 4.5 million may arrive this November and we intend to deploy it in different areas of BARMM. Considering also Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, and Basilan. The single-shot J&J is very advantageous.)

The Philippines on Wednesday logged 1,591 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest since February 24, bringing the nationwide tally to 2,793,898. — Joahna Lei Casilao/RSJ, GMA News