Fight cattle, avoid COVID: Philippines tests vaccine delays | Coronavirus News Plague

Manila, Philippines – Last week, after ignoring her brother’s advice for several months, Fannie Taladro Pestaño rushed to a nearby school in Las Piñas City, Manila, the capital of the Philippines, to receive her first COVID-19 vaccine.

His brother, Johnny Rey Taladro, was urging him to sign up for the vaccine.

It was free, and they needed security because, as ordinary workers, they did not have the opportunity to work from home.

“Think about your family,” he told her.

But Pestaño worried about the consequences. He also said he had heard of people from other countries fainting, suffering from heart disease, and dying from a jab. All her neighbors were talking about this.

As a result, even though he knew about the vaccination process, he strongly refused, and even his brother did not pressure him.

Then a Muslim woman from Las Piñas City began making a huge reward, but only those who registered for the COVID-19 vaccine.

“I heard that the house-to-house woman was in danger. I want this, obviously, “Pestaño told Al Jazeera. He was still afraid of the vaccine, but he strengthened himself by remembering his brother’s advice.

“Whatever happens, it happens. It’s all up to God, ”Pestaño said.

“We want to,” he said, referring to the house he now has a chance to win.

‘Encouragement’

Vaccination delays among Filipinos are crucial for the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine in the country, which has already been introduced with the slow introduction of vaccines. Only 4 percent of Filipinos, about 110 million people, have received less COVID-19 vaccine since June 6, and only 1.4% have received second-line treatment.

In May, pollsters from Social Weather Stations (SWS) found that one-third of the 1,200 Filipinos surveyed were ready to receive the COVID-19 vaccine despite the country’s resilience. the most dangerous spread in Southeast Asia. One third did not want to be vaccinated, and more than three did not confirm this.

In particular, people said they were concerned about the side effects of the vaccine, and following suspicions about the use of the drug, the study showed. Video footage demeans the vaccine is also a major cause for skepticism, according to the health department.

Congresswoman Villar, whose family holds one of the largest in the country, presented the Las Piñas military prizes. House-by-lot, which is said to be worth about a million pesos ($ 20,000), is the project of a company whose father, former cinematographer Manny Villar.

In addition to promoting vaccine registration, Villar said the sessions were designed to “spread awareness about the benefits of the global government’s COVID-19 vaccine program”.

“Many Filipinos are worried about getting vaccinated because, among other things, they fear the consequences, due to a lack of knowledge and knowledge about the benefits of the vaccine,” he told Al Jazeera.

Each month from July, 10 vaccinated people will win a package of more than $ 100, a small amount for the poorest. The facilities include food and other necessities for the establishment of a wall mall, a well-known business in the country.

House-by-lot will be offered a major pull in December, along with two motorcycles.

Las Piñas is not the only place that is trying to attract people to get vaccinated. Governments in cities and towns in the Philippines are turning to mythology.

In particular, its prizes include bags of rice – the largest food in the country – and bags of groceries but in the town of San Luis in Pampanga province near Manila, the federal government will shoot cattle every month for the host. For about $ 628 each, the animals will be donated by the donors.

“Winning cattle may not mean much in other places but here in San Luis, we are farmers, that’s a good incentive,” Ardee Taruc, the city’s risk management manager, told Al Jazeera.

A cow can provide her owner with a way out of extreme poverty. They feed on the grass that grows most in the valley. With that, the farmer can start a herd of animals, use it as a pack animal and, if he is a female, sell his milk.

“It’s up to the winners if they want to kill a cow,” Taruc said.

Filipinos’ confidence in the vaccine reached a climax in late 2017, when lawmakers reviewed the 2016 government’s vaccine against the virus.

Hospitals in the Philippines have grown to the point where the coronavirus is endemic [File: Francis R Malasig/EPA]

State attorneys – not doctors – linked Sanofi-Pasteur Dengvaxia vaccine for several deaths in children who received the vaccine. Although the results of this study have not been achieved, dependence on human vaccines has dropped dramatically from 93% in 2015 to only 32% in 2018, according to The Vaccine Confidence Project.

In addition to Dengvaxia’s fears, the uncommon nature of the COVID-19 vaccine raises doubts, says Lulu Bravo, a physician and executive director of the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination.

“With this plague, we are traveling in an unknown place. It is an unknown terror,” Bravo told Al Jazeera.

The first list in the Philippines on the COVID-19 vaccine includes medical professionals, the elderly and people at risk – diseases that make them susceptible to infections and diseases.

Since the country only introduced a public vaccine in the mid-1970s, many older people grew up not receiving any vaccines at all, which may explain their refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, Bravo added.

Education is another thing, he said.

‘I don’t trust the government’

After being laid off from the plague, Leandro Atienza and his wife lived in the home of his mother-in-law in Las Piñas. Like many poor Filipinos, they had just graduated from high school.

Despite the spread of coronavirus in the Philippines, Atienza says she does not know anyone who has contracted the disease. As a result, they do not believe that COVID-19 is real, and reject vaccines.

“People have been talking about COVID for over a year. I would have gotten it by now because I always wanted to find a way to feed myself and my wife. I must have received COVID, but I did not, ”Atienza told Al Jazeera.

The bad news about the COVID-19 vaccine has also given Atienza the impression that the drugs are dangerous, even though the government has confirmed they are safe and effective.

“Look, I don’t trust the government,” Atienza said.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, public health advocate, has welcomed any efforts to promote vaccine-promoting activities, including advocacy. However, he says there is also a need to “overcome barriers” in people’s minds when it comes to vaccination.

“The fact that government agencies are required to use raffles, or that private companies are required to provide vaccines, shows the failure and inadequacy of our national government to help people rely on our vaccines,” Hontiveros told Al Jazeera.

Bravo added that the uncoordinated government’s message in the midst of the epidemic had also hampered the vaccine.

The plague has left many Filipinos suffering. The economy shrunk by 9.5% in 2020, and since April, more than four million people have lost their jobs. [File: Rolex Dela Pena/EPA]

President Rodrigo Duterte has often ignored the dangers of the epidemic and has been keen to get vaccinated.

She received her first dose on May 3, a few months after her release. He chose a vaccine made from the Chinese government drug Sinopharm, which was not licensed for emergency use in the Philippines at the time, and was not available to the general public.

By taking a vaccine other than the one found in the Philippines, Duterte has stimulated public interest, say critics. Duterte, whose foreign policy favors China, later apologized.

“The most politically charged ministers have disrupted the vaccination process in the country,” Bravo said.

He said it should be made known to everyone that their risk of infection from COVID-19 is about 2,000 times higher than the risk of vaccination, a message that the health department has already begun to repeat.

“You can be sure if you trust the messenger. If you do not believe the messenger, you will not believe the message, ”he added.

Did it work?

But the animal race can’t wait until every citizen is satisfied, and providing incentives – especially rewards – has encouraged vaccination.

“The cattle have been severely affected,” said Taruc of San Luis. Since the announcement was made in late May, vaccination rates have risen by about 50 percent.

“Now, in our case everyone needs a vaccine, and there is not enough vaccine,” Taruc added.

Local government information about the vaccine-related vaccine has been flooded with requests for vaccine applicants to enter the competition, and Duterte’s minister, including vaccine chief Carlito Galvez Jr., has been supporting unethical approaches.

The government itself could soon encourage immigrants, such as limited restrictions on public places and restrictions on travelers, Galvez told local reporters.

Las Piñas has announced its cancellation on May 28, and has seen “rapid growth in enrollment and interest in vaccines,” Villar said. More than 100,000 people enrolled by June 8.

Raffle helped Taladro convince his wife, Nilrene, who has a heart condition, to get a jab.

For Nilrene, it was necessary for the risk to increase the family’s chances of winning home-and-lots. Her husband had joined in, too.

After being rescued by his wife’s acceptance of the vaccine, Taladro now plans to win the house. If they win, it can change their lives.

“I only have enough to put food on the table. More than half of my income goes to rent, ”Taladro, a construction worker who earns 537 pesos ($ 11) a day, told Al Jazeera.

Philippines launched a ‘front-liners’ vaccine, which includes factory workers and co-workers, last week [File: Lisa Marie David/Reuters]

The Philippines is facing a post-war economic crisis. Its economy declined by 9.5% in 2020, and since April, more than four million Filipinos have lost their jobs.

Last week, it launched a public immunization campaign against “financial regulators” – citizens who work and cannot afford to leave home.

As a travel agent, Atienza may have been eligible but still refused to sign and did not agree with the city program, considering that only one person could win.

Atienza, who rarely sees a doctor and whose baby son died of meningitis last year, would love to hear the government offer to pay the medical bills for anyone who may be vaccinated.

As it stands, government health insurance policies only provide subsidies, including the risks of vaccination.

“He should be in charge of everything that might happen, wouldn’t he?” Atienza said.