This will be my entry for the #monomad challenge hosted by #monochromes.
I am now fully vaccinated!
Hey Hivers!
Yesterday, my nephew, niece and I woke up early (at around 5:00AM) because we wanted to come early in the vaccination venue. We left the house before 7:00AM and since it was just early look how peaceful the road was. The vaccination was started at 8:00AM and we were happy because there were only few people in the gymn (where the vaccination was held) the time we arrived. Meaning, we have chair for ourselves. We don't need to stand long hours until the seats will become empty.
Last year, I had conversation with a close friend. We shared each other's view about the covid-19 vaccine. We were not afraid of the vacccine back then until there was many children died in the Philippines after they had received a dengvaxia vaccine.
Have you heard Dengvaxia Vaccine controversy that allegedly killed many Filipino children?
According to the wikipedia, the Dengvaxia controversy was a health scare in the Philippines caused when the dengue vaccine Dengvaxia was found to increase the risk of disease severity for some people who had received it. A vaccination program ran by the Department of Health (DOH) administered Sanofi Pasteur's Dengvaxia to schoolchildren. The program was stopped when Sanofi Pasteur advised the government that the vaccine could put previously uninfected people at a somewhat higher risk of a severe case of dengue fever. A political controversy erupted over whether the program was run with sufficient care and who should be held responsible for the alleged harm to the vaccinated children. In late November 2017, the DOH suspended the school-based vaccination program. The DOH subsequently banned the vaccine's use and sale in the Philippines. The scare caused by the controversy has been suggested as a factor in the country's loss of confidence in vaccines and low immunization rates, resulting in an infectious disease crisis in the country in 2019, including a measles outbreak
The Dengvaxia controversy was happened during the presidency of Benigno Aquino III who had died just this year.
There was an inconsistency of statement from the company Sanofi Pasteur itself and from the medical director of Sanofi. According to the pharmaceutical company (Sanofi Pasteur) that the health of most school children Filipinos might be at risk of a more severe disease, where the recipient of the vaccine had not had a previous dengue infection; while a medical director of Sanofi said that the dengue vaccination would not cause severe dengue.
The dengvaxia vaccine is intended only for the people who have been infected with dengue virus however, what had happened was that there was an allegation that the Health Secretary requested a procurement at around 800,000+ vaccines and injected to school children though some of them were not infected of the said virus.
According to wikipedia, most of the deaths were caused by internal bleeding in the heart, lungs, and brain, which are symptoms of hemorrhagic dengue.
In my opinion, the Philippine Health Secretary is the person who is also responsible to scrutinize the vaccine's safety before she requested to process the procurement of the product and injected to the innocent children, if the allegation above is true.
From then, there were many Filipinos who have scared to get vaccinated of any kind of vaccine due to the dengvaxia controversy. Honestly, my friend and I was also one of those Filipinos who have scared of the covid-19 vaccine because we have many what ifs in mind like what if the effect will be same as dengvaxia.
A study published by the University of the Philippines- College of Medicine directly attributes the dengvaxia controversy as one of the major factors for the vaccine hesitancy of Filipinos affecting the covid-19 vaccination program.
But as I read the right articles about the vaccine, it lessened my fear. We should only read the right article so that our minds would not be engulfed with so much negativities. Because sometimes the news will only discuss the negative and less discussed the positive.
Like in my place, there were many people who have scared of getting covid vaccine shot because of what they heard on the news but now as they have observed that the people in our place who are fully vaccinated was still ok and alive, they were now convince to have their covid vaccine shot.
I've realized I had my flu vaccination almost every year before and there was no bad effects caused by the flu vaccine. Many doctors said that covid vaccine is like a flu vaccine however it is more stronger than the flu vaccine because of the strength of the new virus, that made me convince that this vaccine would not harm people maybe except to those people who have suffered terminal illness. This is not like dengvaxia because the case is very different.
Yesterday, I had my full covid vaccination and everything went well. Picture below showed that there were many people who went to the gymn to receive their 2nd dose of covid vaccine.
After injecting my second dose, I asked these nurses if I could took them a photo as my souvenir. I was so grateful of their genuine service they had provided. They were also the same nurses who have assisted my first dose of covid vaccination.
We have different views about the vaccine and I could not expect that your views and my personal view is the same. But my prayer is hopefully we will be soon return back to the normal life where we can freely go anywhere without complying those health protocol that caused so much hassle.
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Thank you for reading and see you on my next blog. Cheers!
Discord: kellyane#0924
Namaste! I am fond of reading books, watching korean, american and filipino series/movies and I am also fond of gardening. I love listening to different life stories and I am always captivated with the beauty of nature so travel is my escape when life turns into blue. But hey, how could I forget my photography hobby? It is one of the best, so follow me as I will be featuring my experiences of the stuff that I am passionate with.