ILOILO City – Anti-vaccination campaigners are smearing the Department of Health’s (DOH) drive to get more people vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Doctors in Region 6 are fighting back.
“(We do) not and will never support, condone and tolerate” those “involved in the anti-vaccination campaign,” stressed the Philippine College of Physicians – Western Visayas Chapter in a statement.
An alleged medical doctor claimed in an interview last week that anti-COVID-19 vaccines were carcinogenic and could destroy the body.
She also alleged that deaths from this “first time and experimental” vaccine would be greater than the deaths from COVID-19 that it supposed to prevent.
The interview has gone viral, prompting the Philippine College of Physicians – Western Visayas Chapter headed by Dr. Aime Fabila to issue a statement countering what it dismissed as “fake news”.
“We internists must support and adhere to the rules and guidelines of the Department of Health and should be advocates of goodwill and health,” the group stressed.
It reminded physicians to practice professionalism “collaboratively and harmoniously” with other professionals, healthcare teams, and the community to bring about the best health outcomes to end the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vaccination, it stressed, would result to “herd immunity” from the coronavirus.
“We support the program of the DOH for vaccination against the disease. We render service and time for the upliftment of the advocacies of the Chapter such as information dissemination and vaccination campaign,” according to the group.
Doctors, it added, must “educate their patients on how to prevent acquiring the disease particularly through following minimum health protocols and getting vaccinated.”
TRUST SCIENCE
Previously, the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Disease (PSMID) – Western Visayas dispelled myths that may have fueled public distrust on anti-coronavirus jabs.
“We should trust medical experts who developed the vaccines. They devoted many years studying different infectious diseases,” stressed Dr. Yvette Silubrico, vice president of PSMID – Western Visayas.
Silubrico cited misinformation on social media as one of the reasons why people were shunning vaccination.
“We are bombarded with so many (mis)information. Let’s take this as a challenge to filter the information nga mabasa naton,” Silubrico said in a vaccination forum in February.
Side effects after getting vaccinated were normal and only temporary, according to Dr. Ellamae Divinagracia, an infectious disease specialist.
“Response ina sang lawas mo sa vaccine. Anything nga ginsulod dira ma-react gid ‘na ‘ya ang imo immune system… pwede mahilanat ka or maka-experience sang headache pero these are temporary…like two days,” Divinagracia explained.
Another PSMID-WV infectious disease specialist, Dr. Ludovico Jurao, said: “Granting nga may adverse reaction gid man, as far as the vaccine at the moment is concerned, ang claim naton is they prevent severe diseases.”
Jurao cited, for instance, the influenza pandemic more than 100 years ago.
“So many people died. The vaccination process went into effect and now we are just living with influenza,” Jurao said.
According to Divinagracia, all COVID-19 vaccines with Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) are safe and effective.
Getting immunized against the viral illness “would not only protect us but would do same to other people, including family members,” she stressed.
But with or without the vaccine, Divinagracia said, people must observe the minimum health protocols against COVID-19 – wearing of facemask and face shield, physical distancing and proper washing of hands.
“Indi buot hambalon nga vaccinated na kita, kalimtan na ang pagsuksok sang facemask kag physical distancing,” she said./PN
