Photo taken from John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Editorial

Unrealistic Decisions

Filipinos nowadays are afraid of taking on risks and tend to refuse important matters to end this global pandemic. The scare of severe vaccine effects, the proliferation of months and fake news about vaccines, and the lack of trust Filipinos have in their own government are some of the factors driving this reluctance that is on the minds of people around the country.

There are many people in the Philippines who refuse to be vaccinated even though it is the best way to avoid contracting and being infected by the virus.

People are afraid because of reports that serious symptoms have occurred for some patients, not knowing that the chances are one out of a million. Others rely on prayer to keep them safe, not knowing that medication and religion are two different things. Some even think that staying home is the safest — which is true — but COVID-19 can affect even the safest house one could possibly imagine.

Vaccines such as AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Sinovac and Sinopharm, and other vaccine companies are the answer for everyone's lives. Not faith and religion or staying in the house.

Having a COVID-19 vaccine gives Filipinos the chance to avoid the risks of having the virus. The body creates an antibody that fights the virus, making the immune system much stronger.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC), “mRNA vaccines contain material from the virus that causes COVID-19 that gives our cells instructions for how to make a harmless protein that is unique to the virus. After our cells make copies of the protein, they destroy the genetic material from the vaccine."

In simpler words, vaccines have the weaker materials that COVID-19 has, yet it can make the body’s immune system familiar with the virus and create various non-harmful proteins to fight the genes of the virus. 

People believing small rumors about serious things can create huge setbacks for the real facts about the vaccination. 

The myths that have been spread around change the whole ratio of the effects of the vaccine. As mentioned earlier, serious side effects only happen in one person out of every one million, which is minuscule compared to getting killed by fireworks.

According to Doctor Adam Smith, a doctor in Melbourne, if people tend to have side effects, it means that their bodies have stronger immune systems. The system fights off the genetic materials that the virus has.

“Vaccines are good. Vaccines save lives. You need to get vaccinated.” Smith said.

Get vaccinated for your life to be safe and protected in these harsh pandemic times. Do not ever hesitate; regret is the worst karma you can ever meet.