EDITORIAL - Cooperating with good initiatives

The polio virus, once thought to have been eradicated from the country 19 years ago before resurfacing again last year, has also been detected in the Butuanon River, as reported by health authorities last week.

In response, Mayor Jonas Cortes of Mandaue City, one of the cities through which the river runs, ordered a citywide polio vaccination.

The vaccinations have begun. Now the least that people can do is cooperate for their own sakes.

Many of us are fond of criticizing the government, but whenever it does something it should, whenever it takes action, or starts an initiative that is actually good for people, people don’t collaborate or refuse to take part.

There are many examples of this. The government put up skywalks to make sure people can cross busy streets safely; some people still jaywalk anyway. The government builds a drainage system to prevent flooding; people dump trash there instead and end up clogging it. The government starts an emergency hotline; people flood it with pranks and non-emergency calls.

The people should participate in this vaccination initiative and not view it with fear and suspicion.

Let us not forget that it was fear and suspicion following the Dengvaxia debacle of years past that was largely blamed for the return of polio in the Philippines in 2019. Parents became suspicious of any type of vaccine after reports that some children who received Dengvaxia died; as a result, these parents refused to let their children be vaccinated for even the most common ailments.

It should also be noted that while Dengvaxia was a largely unproven drug, or whatever it was, polio vaccines have been around since the early 1950s and has been proven effective.

When the government actually steps up to the occasion and comes up with a good initiative, we citizens should also do our part by making sure that that good initiative succeeds.