THE blame-throwing, or a milder version of it, has started. I read an article somewhere wherein a member of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) partly mentioned the tug-of-war between the agency and the Cebu Provincial Government over the protocols imposed for returning overseas Filipinos. The Province pushed for protocols that involved what he now calls a leaky process in preventing the entry into the country of the dreaded delta variant of the coronavirus, which causes the Covid-19 illness.
This is not surprising because when historians write about the pandemic and its spread to the Philippines, that conflict will surely be talked about. That this country is in another suge of Covid infections being blamed on the entry here of the delta variant of the virus could invite some “I told you so” mutterings.
But we should be on the “moving on” phase and should focus now on the more important part, which is ensuring that mass vaccination would win in the race against widespread infections. The goal now is to reach the targeted one million inoculations nationwide per day and solving the many obstacles towards reaching that goal.
I am fully vaccinated with the Sinovac vaccine and am monitoring reports on whether a booster shot will be given or not. My wife is also fully vaccinated but with the vaccine made by Pfizer. My older son is waiting for the schedule of his second jab of the Sinovac. That is why I worry now for our youngest, who is still unvaccinated. Classes in high school are still online, true, but it is difficult dealing with an unseen virus. My wife goes out for work every day, and I entertain people every day in our small sari-sari store. The risks are there.
I know that the schedule is for later for the younger ones’ vaccination. With the government struggling to procure vaccines for millions of Filipinos, priorities will be laid down. The younger ones would be last in the list. That is why my hope for now is that local government units should focus on finding ways to speed up the vaccination effort now. That is aside from slowing down the spread of the virus and solving the problems in medical care.
In the meantime, I am making moves that would lessen the chances of getting infected. I asked my helper, who reports daily for work in our home, to take a leave of absence following reports of infections in her barangay and in our barangay too. That means increased work load at home for me. But what can we do?
I think the times call for us to make sacrifices, because if we don’t, we won’t see an end to this pandemic. Disciplining ourselves is a form of sacrifice. Struggling to make both ends meet is another. Following the protocols imposed by the government is still another. Which brings us to that trite admonition by a leader of old: “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for the country.”