The Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations’ (PAPO) patient-led campaign, “Bakuna, Now Na,” a campaign for Filipino patients and by Filipino patients, aims to increase vaccination uptake and decrease hesitancy to help curb the COVID-19 pandemic.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines vaccine hesitancy as a delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite the availability of vaccination services. In 2019, WHO identified it as a top threat to global health.
At the virtual media launch, Karen Alparce-Villanueva, PAPO treasurer, Asia-Pacific Immunization Coalition member and campaign project lead, said it’s a whole range of behavior — from an outright refusal because they don’t trust the vaccine, or the provider, to complacency as they don’t perceive it as a need or don’t value the vaccine. There are also issues of convenience or access to the vaccine.
Villanueva also said patient organizations now have a critical role to play to counter COVID-19-related infodemic and misinformation to help reduce vaccine hesitancy. “They must engage their communication platforms and deploy their members to support the immunization efforts,” she added.
Through this campaign, PAPO could help in informing patients and the public that vaccines are safe and effective having gone through regulatory approvals and scientific research, Villanueva noted.
She cited a study done by Prof. Heidi Larson of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicines, wherein data showed that vaccine confidence in the Philippines dropped to 32 percent in 2018 from 93 percent in 2015 largely as a result of the Dengue vaccine controversy.
“Clearly, there is work to be done,” Villanueva pointed out, as it has damaged the government’s vaccination program. Lack of trust in the system also contributes to vaccine hesitancy in the country.
Because of this, Villanueva mentioned how misinformation spread, saying that the more scientific-sounding the article is, the more likely people are going to believe them. More often than not, these pieces of information are spread accidentally or out of genuine concern.
The information moves from the bottom up, taking place within a single community, she said. “The effective disinformation often contains a grain of truth.”
PAPO has a very critical role to play: address concerns and issues that reflect its core values of putting patients at the center of health care; empower and educate patients; and complement government and private sector efforts to reduce or remove barriers for the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines.
The vaccine is one of the critical ways to be able to return to normal life. “With the public’s hesitancy on vaccines, there is a need to assure the public of its safety and importance,” she added.
Villanueva said PAPO’s way to connect is two-fold: ‘Bakuna, Now Na’ (advocacy lead) to push people to take positive action and get the vaccines when possible, and ‘Kwentong Bakuna’ (information sharing) which is a PAPO vaccination webinar series, in partnership with the Department of Health, to target A2 and A3 priority groups.
Ma. Fatima Lorenzo, PAPO president, urge all Filipinos, including patients and their families, to get vaccinated to be protected from the ongoing potentially life-threatening illness.
“We also support initiatives to urgently address vaccine inequity and secure vaccine access for Filipinos,” Lorenzo said.
For Dr. Nina Gloriani, Department of Science and Technology Vaccine Experts chair and WHO’s Steering Committee for COVID-19 Vaccines, there is still much to be desired in terms of vaccinating the A2 and A3 groups.
“This campaign is a welcome initiative that we wholeheartedly support,” Gloriani said, urging everyone to support this unity call to achieve the level of population protection.
Dr. Beverly Ho, director of the Health Promotions Bureau and the Disease Prevention and Control Bureau at the Department of Health, said one thing that was very poignant about what she has seen and heard from PAPO’s campaign launch was the need for the patients or anyone who will get vaccinated to really be part and parcel of the organizing group for the DOH’s campaign.
“It is important because it talks about ownership, empowerment and more importantly, the need for participation,” Ho said.
While the DOH started opening the vaccination for A4 group, it is clear that if the A2 and A3 groups remain unvaccinated, there will still be an increase in cases and hospitals will still be full.
This campaign is not just about communicating the benefits of getting vaccinated. PAPO has been an avenue for getting feedback. “We all know that the communication has to be very much linked with operations,” she added.
“Because of the nature of our vaccination campaign, each LGU will have a different mechanism to employ or undertake the vaccination program in their area,” Ho noted. “All the more, we need the voices of patients to provide constructive feedback,” she added.
