Many Filipinos show reluctant to get vaccinated against COVID-19 after the controversy sparked in 2016 with Dengvaxia, a dengue vaccine promoted by the Government among the child population and which it was later learned that it could have serious adverse effects. The French pharmaceutical Sanofi recognized in 2017 that the drug increased the risk of developing life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever in patients who had not previously suffered from the disease.
Due, the Philippine Executive suspended generalized vaccination, but a mistrust was generated that lasts until today. A reflection of this is that the Philippines hardly administered 8.41 million doses, according to the portal Our World in Data. This means that, so far, have only completed the vaccination schedule 2.1 million people, of the almost 110 million inhabitants that the country has.
The threat of the Government to achieve its objective
Philippine authorities claim vaccinate 70 million people before the end of the year, something that seems an almost impossible mission if the vaccination rate does not increase. For this reason, the Government has taken a drastic decision for citizens to be vaccinated.
The president of the country, Rodrigo Duterte, has threatened to send to jail those who refuse to inoculate themselves with the drug. “If you don’t want to get vaccinated, I’ll have you arrested and then I’ll give you the vaccine on your buttocks.”, he assured on Monday during a speech broadcast on television and collected by the Rappler news portal. “Get vaccinated or I’ll lock you in a cell”he added. He justified this measure by pointing to unvaccinated people as possible “carriers” of the disease.
For now, vaccination is voluntary in the Philippines, but the president assured that will seek the legal means within the current emergency law to find a way to force the population to receive the dose of the drug. This warning from the president, who insisted that he will act “within the law”, comes at a time when the country is struggling against an upturn in infections. Since the start of the pandemic, the country has registered 1.36 million cases and more than 23,600 deaths.
–
