Is Pangasinan ready?

WHILE talks about the national government’s vaccination plan to combat COVID-19 are reaching fever pitch, Pangasinenses are beginning to ask themselves series of questions about its implementation in the province, particularly – how and when the vaccination will take place in the towns and cities.

Is the provincial government ready for its implementation. Does it have a ready list of the primary beneficiaries? Does it have the storage capabilities? They ask.

But still the main question uppermost in Pangasinenses’ minds is: “Will I take the vaccine?”

The lingering doubt is not without basis. Recall that after the Dengvaxia scare in the country when scores of children allegedly died from the vaccine, parents have since been resisting to submit their children to the proven, tested vaccination programs of government. As the Provincial Health Office had lamented, it took some time before thousands of parents in Pangasinan could be convinced to have their children immunized against measles, malaria, flu, etc.

Now comes the anticipated national immunization program for the untested COVID-19 vaccines. Never mind the costs because President Duterte has already given the assurance that primary beneficiaries will have theirs at no costs to them but how prepared are the province’s local governments for the implementation?

Indeed, how?

 

Salute to May

MAY Parsons has gloriously put the Philippines in the world map by becoming the first inoculator of the vaccine against the COVID-19 disease. Parsons, a Filipino nurse working for 24 years now in Britain’s National Health Service, performed it on Margaret Keenan, a 90-year-old grandmother, on December 8 at the University Hospital, Coventry, Britain.  Keenan, from Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, took the Pfizer-made jab to signal the largest immunization program in British history since the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak that killed nearly 50 million.  “It’s the best birthday present I could wish for,” said Keenan, who will be reunited with her loved ones after being alone for most of the year. Already, Britain has suffered 61,000-plus deaths since March.  Parsons was likewise oozing with pride in her monumental role in the fight versus the virus that has already killed more than 1.5 million worldwide.

Yes, the Filipino can.

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