Seguran Vincent Ralph E.

– 1st Speaker

Topic: Resolved, that Covid-19 booster shots be mandatory to all Filipino adults (Negative Side)

Introduction:

It was December 31, 2019, when the World Health Organization initially reported the COVID-19
virus. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is defined as illness caused by a novel coronavirus called
severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 a
global pandemic. Millions of people have affected by the pandemic most especially the third world
countries. Other countries temporarily closed its boarders and strict and serious precautions was
established such as imposing enhance community quarantine.

Among all the necessary precautions, one of the effective measures to fight COVID 19 is thru
Vaccination. Despite the reported effectiveness of the vaccine, there are number of reports that covid-
19 vaccine doesn’t react well in their first shot and experience serious complications especially for
Filipino adults. Adults are classified as individuals above the age of 18 years.

Aside from that, there are 113 million total population in the Philippines, and 61.65% of it or
68.43 million are Filipino adult. This is the approximate number of people who will possibly undergo
mandatory Covid-19 booster shots. When you say mandatory, it means it is the result of a mandate or
order, which usually comes in the form of a law stated in Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Basically, all
Filipinos fall in the category including those people with serious side effects from their first shot of
vaccine should abide the government’s mandate despite reducing their rights on Freedom of expression.
Moreover, the government needs to sustain that huge supply of vaccine at a certain interval to
accommodate all Filipino Adults booster shots which obviously requires additional funds from the tax of
the people.

With regards to this, my partner and I believed that the Covid-19 booster shots should not be
mandatory to all Filipino adults. We will be presenting our four arguments to support our stand.

Argument No. 1: Covid-19 booster shots should not be mandatory to all Filipino adults because the
vaccines have not completed its clinical trial.

Expert says that the vaccines work safely and effective in minimizing the possibilities of a person
contracting COVID-19. However, that vaccines haven’t complete evidence that these reacts well to all
people. According to the British Heart foundation organization in UK, COVID-19 vaccines are still under
clinical trial. Which means, it was still under monitoring to continue to improve our understanding of the
long-term uses, benefits, and risks of the vaccine. Aside from that, the Pfizer, one of the manufacturers
of covid-19 vaccine also said that they are still currently continuing to evaluate data from this landmark
trial, while also studying vaccine in additional population. They address that they are continuing to
collect data and real-world evidence to help them understand long term immunity through ongoing
booster studies, as well as the potential need for an updated vaccine in the event that newly emerging
variants evade protection provided by the existing vaccine.

Another thing is that all the emergency uses of the vaccines today have not been approved or
license by the FDA., but have been authorized by FDA, under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to
prevent Coronavirus Disease 2019. The emergency uses are only authorized for the duration of the
declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of emergency use of the medical
product under Section 564(b)(1) of the FD&C Act unless the declaration is terminated or authorization
revoked sooner.

With this, only volunteerism of all individuals was encouraged for a booster shot rather than a
mandatory one since there is no concrete information about how this vaccine affected us, and no
optimum certainty that it safe for all Filipino Adult to have a booster shot. This is the reason why experts
will only recommend booster shot to those who have solid foundation of trust to the vaccine and willing
to take part in the ongoing research, accompanied by a signing of waiver to show that the government
will not be liable for harm suffered by participants and to make them aware about the potential risks of
an activity. And other people are free to reject the recommendation for their skepticism on the efficacy
and safety of the vaccines after the experiences they have got in the first shot.

Argument No. 2: Covid-19 booster shots should not be mandatory to all Filipino adults because it is
not accessible to everyone.

There are approximately 68.43 million Filipino adults in the Philippines. When getting booster
shot is mandated, this is the sum of vaccine the government needs to accommodate the entire
population. The problem here is that when each Filipino adult is obligated for a booster shot, the
demand for the covid-19 supply in the country will doubled, however, there are only limited number of
vaccine manufacturing companies globally. In this case, the government will have a hard time to
accommodate millions of Filipino adults for a booster shot knowing that Philippines is not the only
country who demands a supply of covid vaccines but there are also more powerful countries that
requires it.

Regarding this, an unequal distribution of covid vaccines throughout the country will surface.
This is the reason why the prioritization framework for COVID-19 vaccination based on the World Health
Organization (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization, together with the
recommendations of independent bodies of experts was formulated due to the limited global supply of
COVID-19 vaccine products. Reiss and Yang (2020) also stated that once we have an approved vaccine,
we will not have enough doses to go around for those who want them.

On the other hand, the government also needs to reach those who live in the remote areas
whose still beyond reach to healthcare services up to this day. According to Dr. Maria Socoro Kristina
Medina, a doctor who serve in the island-town of Almagro in Samar province, one of the poorest areas
in Eastern Visayas region, families living remote island-barangays could not afford healthcare services
due to lack of money and difficulty in transportation. The Government also take time to consider that
Philippines is part of the third world and not everyone can afford booster shot at a certain interval in the
future once the clinical trial was completed and full market authorization is issued by the Philippine FDA.
In the study made by Alam et al (2021), Vaccination cost and lack of financial support for vaccine
purchase’ is one of the most critical challenges to COVID-19 vaccine supply chain.

Conclusion:

COVID-19 vaccine has still in the trials in which expert are still conducting further studies to
understand their nature of giving immunity to virus as well as its accompanied risk which could harm
and result further health complications to other Filipino adults. Government should also monitor the
availability and accessibility of vaccine to sustain the entire population despite having limited
manufacturing companies to ensure that there is an equal distribution of vaccines for all, and there is
enough doses to other people who needed it more.

References:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/667757/number-of-adults-in-the-philippines/#:~:text=Number
%20adults%20Philippines%202012%2D2021&text=In%202021%2C%20the%20number%20of,the%20age
%20of%2018%20years.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mandatory

https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/2500114-overview#:~:text=It%20was%20initially%20reported
%20to,outbreak%20a%20global%20health%20emergency.&text=On%20March%2011%2C%202020%2C
%20the,influenza%20a%20pandemic%20in%202009.

https://www.pfizer.com/science/coronavirus/vaccine/rapid-progress

https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/news/coronavirus-and-your-
health/coronavirus-vaccine-trials

https://doh.gov.ph/faqs/vaccines

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1144382/health-services-still-beyond-reach-of-remote-communities-
tribal-villages#ixzz7nG03tGzg

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925527321001699

https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0000165

https://doh.gov.ph/Vaccines/when-will-the-COVID-19-available-to-me

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34121813/

https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2020/09/15/covid19-vaccine-mandate-compulsory/