Unvaxxed Abella opposes mandatory COVID-19 vaccination

Presidential candidate Ernesto Abella on Thursday said the public should have a choice whether or not to get the COVID-19 vaccine as there are other ways for the country to combat the pandemic.

During Go Negosyo-One News' Kandidatalks series, Abella said he is not anti-vaccine although he admitted that he has yet to be inoculated against COVID-19, stressing that everyone should be given a choice in such a matter.

“The last vaccine I had was when we went to Egypt, I had an anti-yellow fever vaccine. So, I’m not anti-vaccine. We’re very cautious, I’m very cautious about the... kasi ganito, while there are risks, there should be choice,” he said.

“We’re not anti-vaccine but we’re anti-mandatory vaccine. It must be based on evidence and scientific facts. Kumbaga [meaning to say], we really need to revisit the whole thing,” he added.

If he becomes president of the country, Abella, a former Foreign Affairs undersecretary, said the COVID-19 pandemic would be managed by enforcing free mass testing, contact tracing, and precision lockdowns.

“We would do a lot more of random testing,” he said. “Yung random testings, we would do a lot of that, but we would do a lot of free mass testing also. Kumbaga we’ll make it available.”

He said the country could not be put in general lockdowns as people need to socialize in order to live. He said precision lockdowns would only be implemented in areas where there are a high number of COVID-19 infections.

“We would like to test for adverse reactions and then also mortality rates. Kung saan mataas na mortality, then that means na seryoso talaga do’n [if an area has high mortality then that means it is serious there],” he said.

“We encourage them to go out, we continue to support their health issues, but we would also protect them by making sure that we are properly testing as much as possible.”

Further asked what he thinks is the greatest problem in the country’s health system, Abella said, “Nakikita naman natin ‘yung problema, laging bumabalik doon ‘yung corruption [we see that the problem always comes back to corruption].”

He thus said that the government should ensure that the financial needs of the people are being met and that the health system is addressing the public’s social needs. —KBK, GMA News