Lifestyle | Essence of Independence Day: More Liberating, Getting Vaccinated

Schedule for the Vaccination

The Philippines has just celebrated its 123rd Independence Day from the colonization of the Spaniards. It is also more than a year, like the rest of the world, that we are experiencing a pandemic following minimum health safety protocols. I quite have felt the essence of the independence day as I have received my first jab of vaccine this month - indeed, it is liberating!

The past few months, staying at home, wearing of face mask and shield when going outside for errands, maintaining safe physical distance and constantly sanitizing or washing hands has been practiced. Not perfectly executed, though, but those are the practices that can somehow cut the cycle of infection talking about Covid-19. Honestly speaking, doing it is really boring... Especially, we, as human beings, really want to socialize; talk and touch with our families and friends. It is really hard to refrain doing the things that were used to do. It has also become a moment for persons like me who are extroverted introvert back to become introvert. Yeah, that's a bit hard. Somehow, the healthcare professional in me understands it very well as I also master about infection control, we just need to abide for now.

Even as a healthcare professional, with senior citizen parents, I have chosen to stay home with them. Yeah, the journey is not that productive and a clear manifestation that I have violated my own philosophy of keeping myself productive. Well, safety weighs heavier than the other things I have in mind. So, few months ago, I have tried to make myself more connected online - not for work really - but to divert my attention, keeping myself mentally active and maintain my sanity. I have very minimal revenue to zero but still paying out social securities and bills. Yeah, that is hard as I am just emptying my savings and a few to none revenue. I love to bake - that has been part of me after I ended my contract for an NGO work - somehow, my literal bread and butter. However, I  have to stop because I am afraid that my exposure outside the house will be a threat to my parents, especially that whenever I go out, my father usually drives the car for me. I also love to talk with peers, but talking has become an online thing. I also love to attend events for my blogging and also support my friends. Everything has been diverted to my YouTube Channel, JoyoftheWorld, luckily monetized along the way as I have maximized my time in the platform.

Yeah, to earn, in any way, is not very easy these days. Having a YouTube channel is not also an assurance that you will have a payday monthly. Everything will really depend on your channel activities and audience. Days of today are really rough but we have to go with the tide and eventually find an island of hope and opportunity.

Yes, I have found that hope with the vaccines coming in the Philippines, a country that is not producing vaccines and simply constantly negotiating to have supplies which the whole world needs. With the country having more than 100 million citizens, there is going to be a very long queue for the vaccination, but still there is a hope to be vaccinated. Then, more and more vaccine supplies arrive in the country with medical frontliners and senior citizens receiving jabs of vaccine first. Yes, with my family inclined as healthcare professionals, they too have been among the firsts being vaccinated; it has played as game-changer and something liberating that this episode in the world will end soon. Also, it has become another branch of approach to fight against the disease.

My senior parents with comorbidities have gotten their first dose of vaccine last May 2021. It has given me a sigh of relief that at last, the needed protection for them is already in them. So they just waited for their next schedule to be fully vaccinated. Luckily, few days after the independence day, they have gotten their second dose. They are now fully vaccinated!

Somehow, that moment has gotten me to wonder, when will I get my first dose? Yes, I am a healthcare professional but not a frontliner, part of a workforce who is not working... Oh dear God, am I going to be on the final leg of those who will be vaccinated? But, who would have thought that I will thank for being a person with bronchial asthma that can be triggered by cigarette smoke, smog (pollutants), and even pollens. Yes, too much exposure with my triggers will really make me sound like a newly born kitten.

I really took chances to be vaccinated through walk-in as I really am clueless how the prioritization will proceed. I have friends who have tried to walk-in on some vaccination sites and then accommodated. Oh bad luck on me, walk-in has become elusive for me, but I have gotten myself listed for scheduling in the coming days or weeks. 

Few days after listed, I have an overflowing joy after I have received a message about my schedule for vaccination. I will remember that day, June 8, my day of liberation from fear of when to get my vaccine. As a healthcare professional, I know how vaccines work and I am an advocate of vaccination that has followed certain steps of bureaucracy.

But... But... But...

Even after being vaccinated, we have to maintain our guards like the face masks and shields, practice washing of hands frequently, and safe physical distance. Only a few have been vaccinated, herd immunity has not been reached yet. So, when there is a supply of vaccines in your area, don't be that reluctant - it is a social responsibility to protect others because we are all suspect carriers.

I know that we have different perspectives talking about science of vaccines. For me, vaccines work and glad to have read about the Philippines has successfully ended polio again after re-emerging few years back. Yes, it will also do the same for this pandemic. Yes, I will really suggest that everyone should be educated about the vaccines and be vaccinated because for me, being vaccinated is really liberating!

Public Health | Immunization in the Philippines Situation

Immunization in the Philippines, at an all-time low rate
DOH, experts call for continued immunization amid pandemic

Immunization is one of the public health services given primarily by our health centers to prevent any outbreak of known public health diseases that can also spread communicably. However, due to the current pandemic and measures of lockdown, there is a huge concern over an all-time low rate of vaccination now in the Philippines, according to a Department of Health (DOH) official.

With this happening, the DOH and other medical experts are calling for continued immunization despite the quarantine explaining that the country could not afford an outbreak within a pandemic.

The DOH National Immunization Program manager, Dr. Maria Wilda Silva, said that from January to March, vaccination coverage has dropped to 7 percent which is an all-time low. This number is way below the ideal 24 percent coverage for the country to reach the 95 percent target by end 2020.

“This is very low because of the disruption from both the supply and demand side,” Silva said in the recent online Kapihan of Samahang Plaridel.

The call for immunization is strongly aligned with the statements released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF which also highlighted the importance of continuing vaccination at this challenging time said that the benefits of immunization clearly outweigh the risks at this time.
“Don’t be afraid because children must get immunized. They are at higher risk of getting measles, polio, pneumonia and other vaccine-preventable diseases,” according to Dr. Lulu  Bravo said, Executive Director of the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination.

“Let us all be reminded that first, if children and other vulnerable sectors are not vaccinated, they can get sick and can die from these vaccine-preventable diseases,” she adds.

Silva shared that one of the vaccine-preventable diseases, pneumonia, remains the number one killer disease among children 5 years old and below. The tender for the child pneumococcal vaccine—between PCV 10 and PCV 13-- is currently being reviewed by the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) for comparability and cost effectiveness.

Asked on the new evidence presented by the World Health Organization (WHO) saying that the two PCVs in the market are equally effective in protecting the children from pneumonia, Silva said:  “When we did the cost effectiveness analysis, they are both cost effective. The price of PCV10 and PCV13, they fall on that range na cost effective sila pareho. But, of course, there is another benefit when we chose the PCV13 because it contains the three sero-types that are not found in PCV10 before. But now with the new evidence, this was now presented to National Immunization Committee and then it was brought up to the HTAC for further review and we are waiting for the review.”

The PCV tender is massive, which is even bigger than that of the controversial Dengvaxia procurement.

“Currently, there is only one available pneumococcal conjugate vaccine available in the market (PCV 13). It is a very expensive vaccine and its eating up more than 60% of the budget of the national immunization program. Mahal talaga pag isang produkto lang ang nasa merkado, ” Silva said.
The HTAC Review of the PCV vaccines is expected to be completed this June.

For her part, Dr. Mary Ann Bunyi, president of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines (PIDSP), said that like COVID-19, “each opponent virus has its own effective weapon of infecting vulnerable individuals, especially children which is why, vaccination is critical even during a pandemic.

“Sa ngayon, meron na tayong mabisang bala para sa tigdas, polio, tusperina, flu, pulmonya, pagtatae at iba pang mga sakit. So, labanan natin at sugpuin natin ito upang mapanatili nating malusog ang ating mga bata. Sama-sama, tulong-tulong tayong ihayag sa mga magulang kung gaano kahalaga ang magpabakuna.” (For now, we already have an effective defense weapon against measles, polio, pertussis, flu, pneumonia, diarrhea, and many other illnesses. We need to fight and beat these to ensure the health of our kids. We should all together make parents aware how important it is to get vaccinated.)

Comment: Yes, as a nurse, there are a lot of highly proven effective vaccines given already to the public. Usually, those who receive these vaccines are the newborns and children who are part of the vulnerable population. With the current crisis, I just hope that there will be means to reach these population aside from going to the centers. I also hope that other public health programs will not be set aside because of the current pandemic. Let us protect our vulnerable population while protecting our health care workers, too. :-)

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