OCTA Research fellow Professor Ranjit Rye, on Thursday, May 5, said that more than 70 percent of adult Filipinos are willing to get boosted against Covid-19.

“More than 70 percent of adult FIlipinos who have taken the vaccine ay willing magpa-booster. Minority lang ang ayaw magpa-booster – nasa 23 percent (More than 70 percent of adult Filipinos who have taken the vaccine are willing to get boosted. Only a minority – at about 23 percent, are unwilling to get boosted),” said Rye in the “Laging Handa” public briefing.

OCTA’s survey held in April 2022 showed that only a minority which constitutes to about 23 percent of the population are unwilling to get boosted against the disease.

Of this number, 53 percent said that they are unwilling to get boosted due to uncertainty of the vaccine’s safety. Rye added that another reason is that at least 35 percent of the unvaccinated population believes that a booster job is unnecessary.

“If you look at this, a lot of it has to do with information and really educating our kababayans about having additional booster shots to extend yung immunity natin against Covid-19 (If you look at this, a lot of it has to do with information and really educating fellow Filipinos on the importance of booster shots to extend our immunity against Covid-19)” said Rye.

“Ganun pa man, kahit na more than 70 percent na yung gustong magpa-booster ay napaka kaunti pa rin ng nagpapa booster doon sa ating vaccination sites, ang isang explanation ng OCTA dito ay yung kumpiyansa (Even so, even though more than 70 percent are willing to get boosted, only few have so far received a booster shot across the country’s vaccination sites. OCTA’s explanation to this is complacency),” he furthered.

The expert then called on the national government as well as local government units (LGUs) to ensure that all Filipinos will get vaccinated and boosted against the disease.

Meanwhile, only 13,342,226 individuals in the Philippines have so far been boosted against Covid-19, the Department of Health’s (DOH) National Covid-19 Vaccination Dashboard showed.