Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said Wednesday his proposal to create “safer bubbles” for vaccinated individuals was aimed at helping the country emerge from COVID-19 lockdowns that hurt the economy.
His statement followed a call by a medical expert urging lawmakers to pass a measure aimed at punishing Filipinos peddling fake information regarding vaccination, as the country continues to battle a surge of COVID-19 infections that stretched hospitals to the breaking point.
Dr. Minguita Padilla, a member of the Vaccine Solidarity Movement, during an interview on Teleradyo, said misinformation on COVID-19 jabs led to several people missing their first dose against the disease.
At the Kapihan sa Manila Bay Forum, Concepcion said “We are trying to present a solution to lockdowns. I believe that this is the way forward to allow the economy to run.
“We have no choice but to (re)open the economy safely. And the only way to do it is to allow the vaccinated to spur the economic movement.”
Padilla said the elderly were mostly targeted by misinformation, noting that the country’s fight against the virus has shifted “psychologically.”
“Maybe the government needs a playbook regarding people who spread fake news,” Padilla said.
Padilla also hoped that the government would act swiftly on the matter since the country’s war against the COVID-19 pandemic was still ongoing.
“Government should also do something more drastic, something specific or stronger on social media posts. We are in a war, and during a war, freedoms have limitations,” she said.
Her statement came after a certain Dr. Romeo Quijano claimed in an interview that COVID-19 vaccines allegedly produce toxins inside the human body.
In reaction, the Department of Health reiterated that there was a “growing number of real-world evidence” showing that “COVID-19 vaccines have led to significant reductions in hospitalizations and deaths among vaccinated individuals.”
Padilla also lamented health workers undermining the protection one could get from vaccines.
She also made the appeal weeks after thousands of residents in Metro Manila flocked to vaccination sites, triggered by the false information that unvaccinated people from COVID-19 would not receive any financial help from the government.
The government denied this information and attributed the development to trolls.
Meanwhile, a health expert called on the public to practice “good information hygiene” amid a number of “false information” circulating online about COVID-19.
Dr. Nina Castillo-Carandang, member of the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group, said the world is also battling a fast-spreading “infodemic” aside from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“’The spread of the virus of COVID is slower than the virus of mis- and disinformation. False information, gossip, and hearsay spread faster than the truth,” Carandang said on Teleradyo.
While washing hands can help protect against coronavirus, the same is true in filtering information, Carandang said.
“We need to practice good information hygiene,” Carandang said.
An infodemic is defined by the World Health Organization as “too much information including false or misleading information in digital and physical environments during a disease outbreak.”
An infodemic can lead to mistrust in health authorities, undermine the public health response and intensify or lengthen outbreaks, the WHO also said.
False information regarding the outbreak include discrediting the threat of COVID-19 to conspiracy theories that jabs could “turn people into zombies.”
In fighting false information, the health social scientist said the public must practice these 4 steps she called “SIFT”.
- Stop if you are feeling strong emotion, an urge to share, or surprise
- Investigate the source
- Find better or alternate coverage
- Trace claims, quotes, and media to the original context
“We need to be proactive about what we share online to have a positive impact on others,” Carandang said.
With over 1.86 million coronavirus infections, the Philippines is battling one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in Southeast Asia. To date, more than 32,000 people have died from the disease.
Only 13 million out of 70 million adult Filipinos have been fully vaccinated in the country since the inoculation drive started in March.