For Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte, the problem is no longer vaccine hesitancy but vaccine envy.
And because of the size of the QC population, they are definitely consuming vaccines immediately, even their upcoming 8,900 doses.
“There’s what we call ‘vaccine envy’ meaning nagseselos na ‘yung mga hindi pa nagpapabakuna du’n sa nagpapabakuna. Everyday our inbox in our Facebook page is inundated with requests for vaccination,” said Belmonte.
“‘Yung darating sa amin na 8,900 doses of Gamaleya… That’s only half a day or even less than half a day matatapos namin ‘yan. So sayang naman di ba, dapat sana bulto-bulto na ang ibaba nila sa amin,” she added.
The mega vaccination center in Marikina also closed after running out of vaccines.
As a result, those in the 80,000 who registered in the A1 to A3 priority groups are waiting first.
“Nakakapanghinayang din ang mataas na vaccine confidence ng mga tao at pangalawa ‘yung proteksiyon na maaring makuha ng mga tao doon sa bakuna,” said Marikina Mayor Marcy Teodoro.
‘Vaccine envy’ seen as problem in A4 vaccination
Antipolo was also disappointed because, during the ceremonial vaccination of A4 in other cities, their supply was exhausted.
“Ang ibig sabihin ba ng DOH, mas mahalaga ang A4 ng NCR kumpara sa mga lolo at lola sa labas ng NCR? So sana linawin lang nila ang mensahe kasi mahirap na iba ang sinasabi namin sa local at iba ang sinasabi ng national, naguguluhan ang mga tao,” said Antipolo Public Information Officer Jun Ynares.
The Employers Confederation of the Philippines also regrets the number of workers who want to be vaccinated, which they think is at 70 percent.
On the other hand, Defend Jobs Philippines thinks that the workers are tired of being locked down, so they are impatient to be vaccinated.
They think that the government should be responsible for the lost income of workers who are absent but not vaccinated and those who adverse effects due to the vaccine will hit.
According to the National Economic Development Authority, the A4 group or labor population is around 35.5 million, so if all of them are vaccinated, almost half of the Philippines’ target of herd immunity will be achieved immediately.
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