“Kailan bakuna?” is the one question my family asks me each time the nightly news comes on as if I magically know when our city will start rolling out vaccines to the public.
When news broke out on March 1 that the first batch of legal vaccines arrived in the country, my parents were excited. So much so that they started planning vacations to their hometowns as soon as they get poked with the vaccine.
But as the debate between vaccine options available became known to all, i.e, the infamous low efficacy of the Sinovac vaccine, or concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine that recently came to light, even my parents are reluctant to get vaccinated.
As someone who prides herself as a believer of science, my stance on vaccines has always been final— I 100 percent trust and agree with it. In fact, there’s nothing that scares me more than rabid anti-vaxxers on the internet. But as the Dengvaxia catastrophe of 2017 showed us, bad governance coupled with a lack of accountability can be severely damaging. Thus, no one can blame those who question the vaccines available to us right now.
It’s a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” kind of moment, but still, my stance remains. After all— and I’m sure this goes for a lot of you out there as well— I would rather roll the dice on a vaccine and its possible side effects than COVID-19 and a highly probable mountain of medical bills and/or death for me and my loved ones.
A healthy dose of skepticism is good, but a dose of a life-saving vaccine is better. So best believe, that when vaccination for the general public becomes available, I will be the first in line, holding my arm up. After reading the fine print, of course.
And now I ask you, will you be willing to take the jab?
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