94% of PGH employees sign up for vaccination

MANILA, Philippines — Ninety-four percent of health workers and non-medical personnel at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) have signed up for vaccination against COVID-19, an official said Friday night.

PGH spokesman Jonas del Rosario said this is higher than the 75 percent acceptance rate that they got in an initial survey done a month ago among 2,000 PGH workers “across the lines.”

“We are hoping that if we set the example, and then hopefully, being champions of the vaccines, we will be able convince other people so that the confidence (in vaccines) will be high,” he told “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s OneNews.

Del Rosario admitted the initial hesitancy in 25 percent of PGH personnel was uncertainty over the vaccine brand they would get.

“I have asked those undecided and when they learned it’s going to be Pfizer, then the confidence went up,” he said.

Four days ago, PGH officials were “pleasantly surprised” when close to 94 percent signed up for the actual registration and screening for vaccination, he said.

Del Rosario said the education campaign they conducted also helped in convincing those who initially doubted the vaccines’ safety.

The “bandwagon” mentality also contributed to the willingness of more PGH employees to be inoculated. “There was also bandwagon (effect) when they see their colleagues lining up for registration. That means they do not really feel strongly about the vaccines,” he said.

Del Rosario said vaccine hesitancy, which now stands at six percent, represents those who are “not ready yet.”

“They want to wait for long-term follow-up of patients or those who have been vaccinated. To some degree, the negative misconception or at least what happened in the past due to Dengvaxia (has affected them),” Del Rosario said, referring to the anti-dengue vaccination program of the Department of Health in 2016.

The country’s vaccination program will kick off at PGH, the country’s leading referral center for COVID-19, with Del Rosario earlier announced as the first one to be inoculated legally against the virus.

Last year, he and his parents contracted COVID-19, but his father and mother succumbed to the disease.

Del Rosario’s unwavering service in the PGH and willingness to take the vaccine first epitomizes the health sector’s steadfast fight against the pandemic.

Not enough jabs for family members

But unlike the members of the Presidential Security Group whose family members are also set to be immunized, the PGH stands to receive vaccines that are enough only for its workers.

Del Rosario said they asked for 6,000 doses to be given to PGH workers, regardless if their employment is by plantilla, contractual or job order.

“We don’t have enough doses for immediate family, but only for those working at PGH… Unfortunately, it is not extended to households,” he said.

He maintained they are not asking for vaccines for their family because “that is basically depriving other health care workers from other hospitals.”