Only eight percent of adult Filipinos are now unwilling to get vaccinated, according to a December 12-16, 2021 Social Weather Stations survey. The figure is significantly lower than the 18% recorded by similar surveys in September and 21% in May last year.
Cabinet Secretary and acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles attributed the dip in the vaccination hesitancy to the information drive of the government and media cooperation. He urged the public to help sustain the momentum and convince unvaccinated people to get jabbed.
“It’s clear that as the number of the vaccinated increases and the public sees that it is effective and safe, no matter what brand, vaccine hesitancy also decreases,” Nograles noted.
The Department of Health said more than 56.8 million are now fully inoculated while 65 million have received at least the first dose, and an impressive number have already had booster shots.
National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., for his part said latest survey findings showed that many Filipinos have now realized the benefits of getting inoculated, especially amid the current spike in cases and the emergence of more transmissible Covid virus variants.
Galvez said that as what health authorities have been repeating since the vaccination rollout started, vaccination prevents severe and critical Covid-19 symptoms that may lead to hospitalization and even death.
“During the surges of Delta and Omicron variants, it has been tested that most of our casualties and hospitalization are unvaccinated,” he said, adding that disinformation fueled public resistance against Covid-19 vaccines which is slowly declining now.