Pfizer vax allotted to LGUs with storage, handling capabilities https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1143670
That is perfectly true. Healthy people have died after vaccination - for Covid and other diseases. And in the case of a new set of vaccines the long-term effects are totally unknown. So you have to balance that partially known and unknown risk against the risk of getting the disease. You have to consider your vulnerability (age, other illnesses, exposure risks) and the risk of serious illness or death from the disease if you get infected. No-one can answer that question for you - it is a perfectly individual decision based on your own risk assessment (and we all assess risks differently). There is the dimension of helping society by being part of a herd immunity - but, again, you personally have to weigh that against your own interest. People risk assess in many areas of life - from sports to travelling to drinking to smoking, etc. There is nothing wrong in considering every aspect and making a decision you feel comfortable with - and then changing it at any time you wish. Personal freedom.
The Negros Or. provincial hospital has such a deep freeze storage unit, privately donated. Dr. Estacion was photographed inspecting it upon arrival some months ago. Yet, the current COVAX gift of Pfizer is reported as going to the three main metropolitan areas only.
The article indicated Manila, Cebu, and Davao, who have "proven capabilities". If we get some, we'll be lucky.
The deaths and risk factors can be found for the vaxx, and the unknowns go both ways. We really don't have a good long term health assessment on Long Covid, and it may/will change with new variants. It looks like new variants may go straight up the olfactory bulb to the brain (not certain of this path myself). So assess your chances of getting it knowing that if the Delta variant gets here, it's at least 50% more transmissible than what we have now, and the chance of hospitalization is 2.75 times more. What do you think the hospitals will look like? Well prepared? We had to bring in extra hospital staff, will they still be available? What is the lead time to make your shot most effective? Can you afford to wait for the ultimate vaccine? Do you think your protection protocol is effective? What kind of mask(s) do you wear? Are you stocked up to wait it out if that's the plan?
Can't vouch for correctness, but they are believable. I only count a person as vaxxed if they have had the second shot though.
In response, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III told the Senate that the use of face shields coupled with face masks and social distancing would provide “greater than 95 percent protection” against the deadly virus, citing various scientific studies. Nevertheless, Duque said the government may study the proposed scrapping of the face shield policy during this pandemic once the country’s vaccination coverage has improved. Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/14473...lds-for-hospital-use-only-sotto#ixzz6y20VggOt Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook
My personal strategy (not telling others what they should do) is based solely on not getting infected. I am not waiting for the ultimate vaccine but to assess the long-term risks of the current ones - however, they surely will have to be modified. I do not dispute the evidence that in the short-term, effective vaccination (has to include the young) is curbing the disease. I am just waiting to see any long-term effects. There is a risk in waiting but life is full of risk assessment. I have no idea what would happen to me if I did get infected - but I am not obese, drink very little alcohol and have no existing health conditions as far as I am aware. But in the absence of that knowledge - which none of us have - I am aiming to keep the virus at bay. Some with risk factors may wisely decide to be vaccinated. I go out very little (maybe once or twice a month), always wear a mask (no one is really sure how effective every type of locally available mask is) and sometimes wear a face shield. I do not mix with groups. My biggest risk factor is my wife as she does go out - but I am converting the basement to take care of that issue and am waiting to find suitable chains*. My wife is well aware of the risk factors and assures me she wears her mask always. She follows the protocols I recently outlined for another member to reduce any chances of cross-infecting me on her return. * Not actually true - or is it?