EDITORIAL
environment in which there is an
©Jade Emerald Retardo
VACCINATION IS A NECESSITY,
NOT AN OPTION
The abrupt emergence of the
coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has thrown
everyone's daily routine into disarray, posing
severe health, economic, financial, and social
concerns. Due to this new threat, countries
around the world has adopted measures to
avoid the spread of the pandemic.
Almagor and Picascia (2020) found
that during the initial stages of the pandemic,
many countries used lockdowns which has
proven themselves as an effective strategy to
mitigate the spread of the virus. Eventually,
countries were forced to adopt a new strategy
since the damage inflicted by lockdowns to
the economy has become irreplaceable over
time. The new measure adopted for
containing the infectious disease outbreak
was the use of contract tracing. The World
Health Organization (WHO, 2020) identified
contact tracing as a process in which an
individual is identified, assessed, and
managed whenever the said individual was
exposed to someone who has been confirmed
as a carrier of the virus.
Moreover, Vergara et al. (2021)
detailed that from the quest to suppress and
defeat COVID-19, many research experts
and authorities have produced an
unprecedented proliferation of vaccines.
Although, despite the availability of the
vaccines it would seem that the general
public would decline inoculation. According
to Verger & Dubé (2020) around 25% of
their respondents from 5 of their surveys in
France stated that they would decline
inoculation, primarily due to concerns of
side-effects from a vaccine developed during
an emergency.
Conversely, there has been an advert
calling for the public to willfully cooperate
with the vaccination programs currently on-
going as of writing. Stallsmith (2021, as cited
in Godbout, n.d) avowed that vaccines are
safe and is one of best way we can beat
COVID-19. Furthermore, Stallsmith (2021,
as cited in CDC, n.d) added that vaccinations
are the best tool that we have to stop the
pandemic in which vaccinated people can
finally return to their lives before the
pandemic. Because of such, many countries
are now trying to hasten the vaccination
process of their constituents, in the hope of
achieving herd immunity.
In conclusion, the measures taken up
to mitigate the spread of the pandemic can
only last so much. With the numerous
consequences of the measures put in place
towards the economy and society itself, there
has been a call for the people to participate
and cooperate with the vaccination programs
once it is made available for them. By
vaccinating the general public, the
governments around the world hopes to
achieve herd immunity in which the ability of
the virus to spread from one to host to
another would be significantly decreased,