(Formerly titled "What About Us Expats")
At this writing, a vaccine (or vaccines if more than one pharmaceutical company will furnish them) for COVID-19 may soon arrive the Philippines. When the inoculation program here begins, it will be administered to the citizens on a priority basis which is to be expected. However, note that the key word here is "citizens." Are we foreigners who live in this country omitted from coverage?
As a long time permanent resident and a senior, I find the possibility of such an exclusion very disturbing. And until recently I didn't know where to turn for recourse. Moreover, there are thousands of us non-citizens who make the Philippines our home, and it would be unconscionable for the authorities to shut us out from the vaccination program. So I'm not alone in this concern.
Fortunately, newspaper columnist, Cito Beltran of the "Philippine Star" recently graciously devoted a couple columns to this topic, and he came up with an answer: According to an undersecretary of the Department of Health, foreign residents have not been overlooked or excluded from the national vaccination coverage after all. It's just a matter of coordinating with other government agencies as to where to fit us into the mix of categories who will be receiving the jab.
Mr. Beltran also pointed out the absurdity of the notion held by some Filipinos that foreigners who live here ought to just return to their home countries for their vaccinations. But that would make as much (or as little) sense as expecting Filipinos living abroad to return here for their inoculations. After all, isn't turn about fair play?
As I mentioned, I think it would be inhumane for the Philippine government--or for that matter, for any host country--to deny access to the COVID vaccination to its non-citizen residents. For those who can't think beyond the idea that if such a refusal were implemented, aliens would only infect each other, they'd better think again, Unvaccinated non-citizens would also spread the disease to Filipinos with whom they come in contact as well. And as it turns out the latter is a large number. Almost half the population refuses to get the injections. (So forget about herd immunity). If anything, these "skeptics" are the ones who pose a health threat to everyone--native or permanent resident--who wants to be vaccinated but is denied that protection.
That said, all COVID vaccines are not created equal. Some makes offer better protection than others. And I for one would not want Sinovac for example, which has an efficacy rate of only about 50.4%'. But this is not the same as rejecting COVID vaccines as a whole. Quezon CiIty where I reside may be utilizing AstraZeneca instead.
In short, for those of us fortunate enough to have not caught the coronavirus, the pandemic has still brought about a great deal of mental and emotional distress.. Now that there's a vaccine which will eventually reach this country--possibly tomorrow, better days may be ahead for the people, including us expats.
