Skepticism and Hesitancy on COVID-19 Vaccines

Vaccines seems to be our last hope to end this pandemic. Currently, the World Health
Organization (WHO) have authorize two COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use, the Pfizer-BronTech
COVID-19 vaccine and the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, that can be injected to prioritize list of persons
which are the medical front liners, elder people, and lastly COVID patients. While, AstraZeneca, Janssen,
and Novavax vaccines has also reached the phase three clinical trials. Because of the fatal and devastating
effect of coronavirus in our life, we despair for a vaccine that can eradicate this virus. But I have grave
doubts on the newly created vaccines because its development has been rushed and it might do more harm
than good to people. Initially, vaccines requires years of testing before injecting it to people.
None of this vaccines have a 100% of efficacy rate and we cannot also be 100% sure that it will
work on us because people in the whole world do not have the same genes, DNA and level of immune
system. Vaccines are generally weakened or inactive parts of a virus. When this vaccine is injected to the
body, our immune system would respond creating antibodies that would fight the virus, this is how
vaccines work. We don’t have the assurance that this vaccines are safe and truly effective. Reportedly,
those injected with COVID-19 vaccines have experience serious side effects. They experience severe
headache, muscle aches, nausea, shaking chills and more. According to Dr. Louis Krenn, after getting his
second dosage of Pfizer vaccine, he started running low grade temperature, getting really achy, had severe
headache, shaking chills and eventually his temperature rises over 100.5 degrees Celsius. Dr. Gregory
Michael, a 56 year-old obstetrician and gynecologist have died 16 days after receiving a Pfizer vaccine.
If we are vaccinated, does that mean we can stop wearing mask, stop social distancing, stop
sanitizing our hands, and everything would be back to the way it used to be? No, after getting vaccinated
we still need to execute the safety protocols. According to Professor Jonathan Van-Tham, England’s
deputy chief medical officer, even having doses of vaccines you may still pass COVID-19 to someone
else and the chains of transmission will then continue. Rather than putting all our hope in newly created
vaccines, we must first execute well the safety protocols such as wearing a face mask and face shield,
often sanitizing our hands, and social distancing. These are more safe prevention of getting infected to the
virus.
Getting vaccinated can keep us from getting the virus but we don’t know how long it would
protect us from getting the virus since this was a vaccine made from rush. The duration of effectiveness of
the virus is still unknown. Dr. Katherine O’Brien, WHO Director of the Department of Immunization
vaccine and Biologicals, states that the duration of protection issues of the vaccine are still unknown and
it may last for a month or a year. The efficacy of the vaccine is not for a long term, and this means that
when the vaccine’s protection ended we still can get infected to the virus. Specially that new variants of
the virus are coming out and we still don’t know if the existing vaccines will be still effective.
Based on the statistics of Kaiser Family Foundation, 27% of the public would probably or
definitely not get any COVID-19 vaccines, whether free or deemed safe by scientists. Vaccine hesitancy
was highest among Republicans at 42%, adults aged 30-49 years old at 36%, and rural residents at 35%.
Also 29% of those working in the healthcare sector were hesitant. Severe reactions from the vaccines
have been reported, particularly in those who had a history of severe allergies. According to Forbes, only
fewer than 50% of hospital workers at St. Elizabeth Community Hospital in California were willing to get
vaccinated while 50% of health care workers in Los Angeles refused the vaccines.
Until we are given the assurance that the coronavirus vaccines are truly safe and definitely
effective, I will not risk myself in getting the vaccine and become a guinea pig. We all hope for the end of
pandemic, and there is a vaccine that can eradicate this virus but we still don’t know all its potential side
effects or will it have long term side effects. The development of the vaccines are rushed and it might
bring harm than good to people. Executing the safety protocols very well is way more safe prevention to
get infected to the virus than injecting a rushed and still on research level vaccine inside our body.
The rollout of the newly created vaccines has started worldwide. As of now, our government has
secured millions doses of Sinovac vaccine from China and has signed deals to purchase at least 30 to 40
million doses of Novavax vaccines. Pfizer-BioNTech has yet to sign a contract while AstraZeneca
secured 30 million doses. According to Philippine vaccine czar, Carlito Galvez Jr., the country would
purchase some 148 million doses in 2021 to vaccinate some 50 to 70 million Filipinos. Galvez also stated
that vaccines may arrive in the country by February 20 at the earliest and public inoculation will begin in
3rd to 4th week of the month. The government will prioritize vaccinating 50,000 health care workers in
Manila.
The audacity of our government to distribute vaccines specially the Sinovac vaccine which
haven’t reach the phase three clinical trials were putting Filipino citizen’s lives at stake. Reaching the
phase three clinical trials is a requirement for a vaccine to be authorized in the application for emergency
use. The government is buying millions of vaccine doses from China’s Sinovac despite the absence of
reliable data and incomplete clinical trials. Disallowing the public to choose what brand of vaccine to
purchase is a huge mistake which leads to the increasing skeptical views and grave doubts of the public.
According to Dr. Paolo Medina, a primary health care physician, says that he will not consider taking the
Sinovac vaccine and will instead wait for other options. The medical experts themselves have safety
concerns and doubts to the vaccines and the government is keeping a blind eye on this concerns. Dr. Gene
Nisperos, assistant professor at the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Medicine in the
country’s capital said that the people with vaccine hesitancy are the health workers themselves.
The government is repeating its mistake. Filipinos have not forgotten the controversy about
Dengvaxia, an anti-dengue vaccine. The vaccine was touted as key to tackling the deadly mosquito-borne
disease that is prevalent in many cities in Southeast Asia. This vaccine was administered in
schoolchildren which led to the severe deaths of pre-teen students who have receive this vaccine.
Reportedly, the cause of students’ death was dengue shock syndrome. According to Dr. Nisperos, “The
entire vaccination program was conducted under very dubious, and non-medical conditions that put
children’s lives at stake. The Department of Health betrayed people’s trust.” World Health Organization
(WHO) had found that Dengvaxia “may be ineffective, or may even increase that risk” on those who had
not yet been infected at the time of the first vaccination.
If the Dengvaxia vaccination program was a big failure, this would even question more the
COVID-19 vaccination program. The skepticism and hesitancy on the purchased vaccine is growing.
Experts says that the lack of transparency over the procurement of Sinovac vaccine will make the
government’s task fighting the pandemic even more difficult. Dr. Paolo Medina, the community medicine
professor from the University of the Philippines, says that aside from transparency, it is equally important
for the government to have accountability if it wants to ensure public faith in its vaccination program.
According to the survey conducted by OCTA research in December 2020, which analyses
Philippine Health Statistics, found that only 25% of respondents in Metro Manila were willing to get an
anti-COVID 19 shot, 28% percent of the people would refuse any type of vaccine and 47% were
undecided and said that it depended on the brand of a vaccine. A separate survey of Pulse Asia conducted
in November and December 2020, 32% of Filipinos nationwide wanted to get vaccinated and 42% said
they did not want to get vaccinated at all due to safety concerns.
The skepticism and hesitancy on the vaccine is transparent. I have grave doubts and trust issues
on a vaccine that don’t have a 100% efficacy especially when medical experts also have concerns. We
need an assurance that this coronavirus vaccines are truly safe and definitely effective. The government is
buying a vaccine especially the Sinovac vaccine from China which have not yet reached phase three
clinical trials. But since the government wants to speed up our economic recovery and buying millions of
doses of vaccine, they should prioritize the immunization of our health care workers, front liners and
government officials. The government should also allow the public to choose what vaccine to purchase
and let the public decide if they wanted to be vaccinated or not. Generally, all the anti-COVID vaccines
are made from rush and it might do more harm than good to people.