Nearly half of Filipinos don’t want COVID-19 vaccine
As coronavirus cases continue to rise, a recent study shows a near majority of Filipinos refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
According to a survey conducted by Pulse Asia, 47% of Filipino adults are not inclined to get the COVID-19 vaccine, while 21% are unsure if they want to be inoculated. Only less than a third or 32% of the respondents said they are willing to be vaccinated.
Safety Concern
Concern about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines is the primary reason why most respondents showed a lack of interest in getting inoculated. Other reasons cited were: the vaccines may not be free, vaccination is not required to combat COVID-19, and the vaccines might be expensive.
As of Thursday, the Department of Health reports the Philippines now has 482,083 cases of COVID-19, with 23,675 marked as active. The new coronavirus variant that has prompted the UK and other countries to enforce lockdowns anew has not been detected in the country, according to the department.
The survey was conducted from November 23 to December 2, 2020 using face-to-face interviews with 2,400 respondents. At the time, dominating the headlines were news about the release of the data from Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccine trials showing that the efficacy rates of their vaccines against COVID-19 are 90% and 94.5% effective. On December 2, President Rodrigo Duterte also issued an order that grants the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to allow emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments after a one-month review process instead of the usual six-month review period.
Pulse Asia's survey has a ± 2% error margin at the 95% confidence level.
