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WALKING a tightrope requires balance. The world is in a situation where we have to balance everything, since we are presented with percentages from all fronts.
Countries face the challenge between sustainable economic growth and staying free from Covid-19. There is also concern among the population and the food supply caused by global warming and climate change.
According to a SWS survey, the number of hungry Filipinos doubled amid the pandemic. Some 426,000 families suffered “severe” hunger.
The Philippine Statistics Authority released grim data in April 2020 that around 17.7 percent of Filipinos – equivalent to 7.3 million – were left without work amid the pandemic.
Here are more numbers:
School dropouts: 2.97 million, of which 61.9 percent are girls. There are girls between the ages of 16 and 24 who are forced to marry. Teenage pregnancy has increased. The gap between percentages widens. The disparity between supply and demand for pork and chicken forced President Rodrigo Duterte to put a maximum price on the protein-based product.
As much as we want our nurses to serve our country, our much needed human resources would rather work abroad because they are so much better compensated. The controversial UK offer to donate Covid-19 vaccines, if we send our nurses to work there, shows how desperate the situation is.
An additional concern around the world is the availability and equitable distribution of coronavirus vaccines from all over the world. Third World countries such as the Philippines face compensation law as a requirement for the purchase of vaccines. Our government is setting aside P500 million to cover severance pay.
What keeps bothering me is regarding Sinovac, the vaccine from China. While this administration has been putting pressure on Sinovac, a large percentage of Filipinos do not want to be vaccinated, even causing some apprehension from those in uniform in the military.
Some 500,000 Sinovac vaccines will be donated to the Philippines. However, surveys show that Filipinos prefer other vaccines. China itself has not used the vaccine in its own population to counter the threat of the dreaded virus. The vaccine has only a 50 percent efficacy rate. In fact, it is not even recommended to administer it to our healthcare workers.
The question is, “Do we have a choice?”
Can we survive without vaccines? It is a difficult decision for Filipinos to make. I believe that truth, love and justice are great denominators to balance everything and alter the percentages.
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