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Don't wait for the 'right' brand: Here's why you should get the COVID-19 jab ASAP
It’s been a few days since I got jabbed with my first dose of Sinovac, and fortunately, I haven’t turned into a zombie.
It sounds like a ridiculous joke, but there are real people who believe getting inoculated against COVID-19 will do more harm than good. In the Philippines, vaccine hesitancy is unbelievably high, even in urban areas like Metro Manila.
Based on the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, conducted from April 28 to May 2, 2021, 33% of Filipinos do not want to get vaccinated. Meanwhile, 35% are undecided and the primary reason is fear of the possible side effects.
“One of our neighbors was spreading rumors that COVID is not real! It was only made up by hospital owners so they can profit from our fear!” Our helper, Norma, who lives in Quezon City, told me in Filipino, adding her neighbor even advised them not to get vaccinated, since it will only make them sick.
Despite efforts from the government and media to curb misinformation about vaccines, many Filipinos are still scared of its perceived side effects. And despite the availability of vaccines in their LGUs, some refuse to get jabbed unless it’s their preferred brand.
I was guilty of being choosy as well. Earlier this year, I ordered Moderna for my dependents from my place of work. With our vaccines estimated to arrive in the middle of the year, our family decided to wait it out.
It was the wrong move: While waiting for the arrival of the vaccine, our whole family tested positive for COVID-19.
Living nightmare
Shortly after Mother’s Day, all seven of us in the family tested positive for COVID-19.
The source could’ve been anywhere: We had an ongoing construction at my grandmother’s house at that time, my sister’s a nurse, my parents go out for errands. We also receive deliveries from online groceries every now and then.
When my sister and I visited our parents to give our pre-Mother’s Day gift, they already had a nagging cough and cold. We didn’t think too much of it, since my Dad always has an occasional cough. He also tested negative twice in our saliva test kit, which we kept as a precautionary measure. In essence, we didn’t have to be worried, right?
Wrong.
Three days later, I felt off and sluggish. I blamed it on the hot weather. But the following day, I woke up with aching joints. I was also coughing and experiencing chills from fever. I tested myself using the saliva kit and the results showed positive. I repeated it three more times and it’s still the same!
It helped that I was paranoid because my family wouldn’t have been compelled to get an RT-PCR test. They thought what we were all experiencing was just the ordinary flu.
While most of us got mild to moderate symptoms, my grandmother, who just recovered from a near-fatal stroke in 2020, bore the brunt of the disease. She spent nearly three weeks battling for her life in the hospital, with my cardiologist uncle and his team of doctors valiantly leading the charge, helping my Lola fight the virus with rounds of hemoperfusions, Remdesivir, and other cocktails of expensive vials and antibiotics to save her.
Thank God she survived the ordeal, but as expected, healing does not come cheap. One thing we learned from our living nightmare was not to take opportunities for granted.
Getting the jab done
My 65-year-old father was the first one to be declared negative in our family, two weeks after falling sick. And as soon as he received the go signal from my uncle, a neighbor helped him get a slot in our barangay. He got jabbed with Sinovac the very next day.
Later on, I decided to book my 91-year-old grandfather and 64-year-old mother a slot through the LGU’s online registration system.
Securing a spot via the eZConsult app is not as easy as its name suggests. It’s akin to booking a ticket to your favorite concert, requiring extreme patience and dedication because most of the time, the website and app are down due to the high influx of reservations. The LGUs should work double-time in improving their online registration process as the inefficiency of these sites also adds to the unwillingness of technologically challenged individuals in getting the jab.
I was also able to convince our helper, Norma, to get the vaccine, provided I register her online since she has limited internet access at home. I literally had to keep my tab open and check every 30 minutes to see if there’s a vacant slot. Once you get confirmation of your appointment, the whole vaccination process is easy.
In a stroke of good luck, the LGU opened hundreds of slots in the wee hours of June 15, and I was able to secure a slot at the drive-thru vaccination site at SM North Skydome. By then, I was already scheduled for a vaccine in another venue, but there were so many available slots, I was able to change my schedule three times! How lucky was I?!
The drive-thru site is perfect if you have senior citizens with you or if you’re just paranoid about mingling with other people before you complete your shots. In 30 minutes, we were done.
In July, we will receive our second dose and will be fully protected against COVID-19.
#JabWellDone… almost?
If only we weren’t so picky in the beginning, we would have saved going through that hellish COVID-19 episode. This is why I keep harping for people to take advantage of the vaccination drive.
Apart from protection against the virus, the hassle it brings, and the steep cost to get better an increased number of Filipinos getting the jab also means a return to normalcy for the whole country. It means hard-hit sectors like tourism and hospitality can begin recovery.
Some resorts require medical certificates and negative COVID-19 test results, while speculations about visitors presenting their vaccination cards as requirements in the future abound.
Emcee Laquindanum-Catibog, AVP for Resort Operations at Laiya White Cove Beach Resort in Batangas proudly shares her entire staff is already inoculated against the virus. She considers it an accomplishment, after experiencing a hard time in convincing her staff to get the jab.
“I was also able to convince them to get vaccinated because as a resort owner, we were able to take the first jab. I guess, when they see their leaders do it, it gives them assurance that the vaccine is safe,” Emcee said.
“Since most of our employees live in areas with low cases of COVID-19, they thought that it was just like the normal flu. They were at first hesitant to get vaccinated due to the fact that fake news in social media was very rampant. Most of their information comes from rumors. When they get sick, they would rather rely on albularyo and tawas,” Emcee added.
“Even when the IATF pronounced before that no medical requirements are needed, my staff voted that they wanted to be protected, so the medical certificate stays! They must be certified that they do not have the signs and symptoms of COVID-19 and that our staff and guests are protected. The vaccines (any brand), though it can protect you 97-99% from severe illness, does not eradicate the fact that you can still contract COVID-19,” Emcee said.
The same point was the reason why my family and I chucked our brand preferences as soon as we got clearance. While studies show that COVID-19 survivors develop antibodies upon recovery, we didn’t want to take the risk as my grandmother is still not entirely out of the woods, yet.
Vaccine hesitancy is still prevalent, but it's true what they say: The best brand is the one in your arm.
Please don’t wait until you get COVID-19 to believe that the virus is real, or that you absolutely need protection against it. You and your loved ones are at risk and during these difficult times, so any kind of protection is better than having none at all. — with reports from Rochelle Senaida/ LA, GMA News
