Editorial: Ramping up health literacy

How do we return to “normal?”

The file photo accompanying an Aug. 8 SunStar Cebu report comments volumes about Filipinos’ different responses to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), particularly the delta variant which is highly contagious and increases the risk of hospitalization for unvaccinated persons.

The photo shows a street scene with all pedestrians wearing a mask. Although nearly everyone has a face shield, some individuals have raised their shield, resting this on the head.

Difficulty with breathing and visibility is often cited by persons improperly using a face shield. Compliance with protocols is more motivated in some people by desire to avoid sanctions from authorities rather than an understanding of the benefits for one’s health and for others’ well-being.

Last Aug. 6, Central Visayas reported 1,320 new cases of Covid-19, setting a record for daily cases, reported Wenilyn B. Sabalo and Jerra Mae J. Librea of SunStar Cebu.

The prominence of the delta variant has surmounted many persons’ hesitancy to be vaccinated through the powerful word of mouth spread among communities and networks.

For Elena, 82, the sudden and recent death of a fellow patient due to suspected delta variant pushed her to go to the Cebu City vaccination center at Ayala Center Cebu. She missed two appointments due to vaccine hesitancy and extended hospitalization.

The smooth vaccination process and the absence of post-vaccination side effects were communicated by Elena’s daughter to a friend, who convinced her own elderly mother to also seek vaccination. Vaccine hesitancy also caused this senior citizen to back out of a previous vaccination opportunity.

Testimonies of persons in one’s network, such as relatives, friends, neighbors and co-workers, are frequently trusted and persuasive. Among Filipinos, these opinion leaders are valuable frontliners in information dissemination and mobilization.

However, winnowing fact from rumors and speculations requires raising the health literacy among citizens so they will not become disinformation superspreaders.

As the nation underwent anew intensification of the community quarantine last Aug. 6, some Covid-19 vaccination sites were transformed into potential superspreaders of the virus when rumors that only the vaccinated will be allowed to circulate and receive government aid during the community lockdowns resulted in the overcrowding of vaccination centers in Metro Manila.

Chaos during vaccination also reflects lapses of local officials in disseminating information and managing the crowd.

Marietta, a resident of Silang, Cavite, registered in person and online at the maCiglang Silang website for A3 and A4 vaccination. Although the website’s final prompt after registration advises the person to wait for a SMS advising the date and venue for the vaccination, word of mouth from the homeowners’ association and neighbors informed her to show up early at a nearby vaccination center and queue up for her shot.

Marietta refuses to walk in without a priority number or schedule for vaccination. Overcrowding and chaotic queuing exposes persons to Covid-19, especially because the delta variant has a high viral load that pushes the transmission, she said, quoting health experts.

Jonalyn was included in a batch of 250 walk-in citizens in the A4 category waiting to be processed for vaccination at the University of Cebu Banilad vaccination center. After hours of queuing, their batch was informed that the center ran out of vaccine.

The frustration of waiting fruitlessly, coupled with the fear that she was exposed to strangers who may be positive for Covid-19, has dissipated Jonalyn’s willingness to be vaccinated.

Health literacy enables citizens to respond to contingencies, whether it is the slow and intermittent rollout of vaccination that fails to meet public demand or the rise of new strains of the virus.