PH scores low on vaccination willingness against COVID-19 — survey

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines ranked among the countries with the lowest COVID-19 vaccination willingness out of 21 states included in an ongoing survey conducted by YouGov, an international research and analytics group.

The Philippines came in third lowest in the survey after 56 percent of Filipino respondents said they would take the vaccine or have already taken it. Following them on the list was Hong Kong and Taiwan, where 38 and 35 percent, respectively, said they would take the vaccine.

From YouGov

However, a report by market and data consumer company Statista explained that the low vaccine willingness in Hong Kong and Taiwan was due to their declining rates of COVID-19 infections.

From Statista

“A few exceptions of decreasing vaccine willingness happened in places with very low infection burdens, leading people to conclude they don’t actually [need] the vaccine – for example in Hong Kong, Thailand, or Taiwan,” said Katharina Buchholz, a senior data journalist for Statista.

The highest vaccination confidence was in the United Kingdom with 89 percent on April 16, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 86 percent.

The willingness to be inoculated against COVID-19 also improved in countries such as Denmark, Spain, and Singapore, which has so far vaccinated over a million of its population.

“Despite some ups and downs in vaccine confidence due to safety concerns surrounding the AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson vaccines, populations around the world have largely improved their willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine since they began to become available early this year,” Buchholz further stated.

PH vaccine drive

NTF COVID-19 Chief Implementer and Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Monday said that as of Sunday, April 25, 85.81 percent or 3,025,600 out of the total 3,525,600 vaccine doses have already been deployed around the country.

Of the sum, around 1,739,656 vaccine doses were administered. From this, 1,508,658 Filipinos have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine from either China’s Sinovac or British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

Meanwhile, 230,998 of the country’s population are already fully vaccinated or have completed their required vaccine doses.

Last month, Galvez said that the government is targeting to reach herd immunity this year by inoculating at least 50 to 70 million Filipinos. So far, the country has reached 0.33 percent of its target.

JE/abc