Massive info campaign on COVID-19 immunization to be done after many Filipinos expressed unwillingness to receive vaccine – official

January 8, 2021

The government will undertake a massive information campaign on immunization against coronavirus disease, an official said on Friday.

This was after some surveys showed that many Filipinos were not willing to get COVID-19 vaccination.

"It's important to have high confidence that (the virus) won't spread, to have what is called as herd immunity," said Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato Dela Peña in the televised "Laging Handa" press briefing.

He said the target is to have at least 60 percent of the population vaccinated.

Dela Peña said a task group has been created to report to the Vaccine Cluster under National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. about the information dissemination on COVID-19 vaccination.

The task group is headed by the Presidential Communications Operations Office as well as the Department of Health.

"So, that is what we are expecting to happen, there will be a massive program for demand generation and adequate information dissemination," Dela Peña  said.

A recent Pulse Asia survey showed that about 47 percent of the Filipinos said they would not get a vaccine against COVID-19 once it is available, while 21 percent were undecided.

Only 32 percent said they would get the vaccine.

The Pulse Asia survey was conducted on November 23 to December 2 last year among 2,400 adults with a margin error of +/-2 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. Celerina Monte/DMS