Provincial Administrator Kathyrin Pioquinto blamed the proliferation of fake news and misinformation coming from anti-vaccine groups as the main reason that there are some people in Bohol who remain hesitant to get vaccinated.
She made the statement during the regular virtual press conference at the Capitol on Friday, July 30, 2021.
She said that the Bohol Inter Agency Task Force (BIATF) would often discuss the issue on vaccine hesitancy among some people in Bohol and the proliferation of wrong information has been identified as the driver of vaccine hesitancy.
“Ang mga doctors mismo ang miingon nga kining mga Facebook posts ug mga viral messages nga [isabwag sa anti-vaxers – those who are against vaccines] mao na maghesitate ang mga tawo nga magpavaccine kay mahadlok sila sa effects sa vaccine based sa fake ug viral nga mga messages,” the provincial administrator, who is also the executive director of the BIATF said.
Pioquinto continued that there are some people who are willing to be vaccinated but unfortunately, it is still not yet their turn to get vaccinated. These people are not hesitating to get vaccinated knowing the jabs can give them protection against the Coronavirus disease (Covid).
The provincial administrator said the BIATF will look into providing incentives to entice people to get vaccinated.
Moreover, in the same forum, Provincial Health Office (PHO) officer-in-charge Dr. Cesar Tomas Lopez said there seems to be some degree of hesitancy at least among the senior citizens and persons with co-morbidity group in the province.
He said that out of 110,592 identified senior citizens in the province only 32, 955 senior citizens have been vaccinated so far.
Furthermore, out of the 31,927 pinpointed persons with co-morbidity in the province, only 14,979 persons are inoculated, he added.
According to Lopez, doctors will be conducting a campaign against vaccine hesitancy in the different towns of Bohol.
“Nakita nato ang hesitancy gihapon niining duha ka sektor sa atong mga kalungsuran mao nga nalipay kita nga karong Lunes [August 2, 2021] magtigom kami sa kadagkuan sa Bohol Medical Society ug sa Philippine College of Physicians, didto sa atong buhatan sa PHO kay aduna silay [doctors] dalaygon kaayong [buhat] nga mutuyok sa mga kalungsuran ug mangampanya bahin sa pag apil sa pagpamakuna,” Lopez bared.