Vacc Ka Takot? | UP Manila orgs to inoculate people with confidence in COVID-19 vaccines
By Rochel M. Floron IV
In a joint initiative, AIESEC in University of the Philippines Manila (UPM) and Little Hands: Isko with United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), a university-based organization that aims to uphold every child’s rights, will launch an online vaccine masterclass titled “Vacc Ka Takot?” to inoculate people with confidence in COVID-19 vaccines this July 10 and 11 at 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM.
While vaccination plays an important role in securing peoples’ safety against the lethal virus, Filipinos are still hesitant to be inoculated with COVID-19 vaccines which is now being dealt with by different initiatives from various local government units (LGUs). With that, the two-day online masterclass aims to boost peoples’ awareness and confidence in COVID-19 vaccines by providing information as to how the vaccines are made and how they work, shattering misinformation and misconceptions regarding the COVID-19 and its vaccine.
On July 10, the first part of the masterclass, a discussion on the basics of vaccines will be presented by Dr. Sharon Yvette Villanueva, professor and secretary of the College of Public Health, UPM, followed by a presentation about the importance of vaccination in public health by Dr. Gene Nisperos, Vice Chief of the Community-Oriented Medical Education Unit, Department of Family and Community of the College of Medicine, UPM.
On the second part of the masterclass, July 11, Dr. Beverly Lorraine Ho, Director for Health Promotion Bureau and Disease Prevention and Control Bureau of the Philippines’ Department of Health, will cover the available vaccine programs in the Philippines. Then, a talk about the community approach on vaccine hesitancy will be presented by Samuel Madriaga, Chief Executive and Director for Health Policy, Alliance of Public Health Advocates (ALPHA), and the 2020–2021 Student Council Chairperson of the College of Applied Medical Professions.
In an unprecedented public health crisis laced with an ‘infodemic’, when both accurate and incorrect information is spreading rapidly making it more difficult to rationally decipher things, being equipped with scientific and humanistic knowledge can be one of the best protection an individual can have in this pandemic.
Amid the crises that the Philippines have struggled with, empower yourselves with a holistic understanding of the issue of vaccine hesitancy in the country by equipping yourselves with rigorous scientific knowledge grounded at the grassroots level.
To join, you may register at https://tinyurl.com/VaccKaTakot-Registration2021.
For more information regarding the event, you may visit their Facebook pages at Little Hands: Isko with Unicef and AIESEC University of the Philippines
