I am not a fan of Persida Acosta, but your editorial piece on her (“Persida’s folly,” 2/26/21) was a very one-sided and vicious attack on the person of a senior government official and does not, to my mind, adhere to your paper’s supposed balanced reporting stance.
It is fearless no doubt, but what you assert as Acosta’s almost singular culpability in the current mess with the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out is remarkably unfair not only to Acosta but also to the Filipino people. The whole confusion and even apprehension among many Filipinos on whether to have themselves vaccinated is only distantly connected to the Dengvaxia fiasco, which is what administration apologists would like to blame for the reluctance and distrust of many in getting the COVID-19 jab.
It is the government’s incompetence in the pandemic response, lack of transparency, and even apparent bias in favor of the Chinese-manufactured vaccine that is causing all the fear and anxiety in the minds of Filipinos. How can you trust your government when it tells you it’s perfectly okay to take Sinovac, which only has a little over 50 percent efficacy rate, when other available vaccines can guarantee much, much more? And why does it have to discriminate between health workers who are in the front lines of the COVID-19 medical interventions and those who are not? Only in the Philippines is there such a segregation of vaccine beneficiaries. Should not every Filipino be assured by the government of the most optimal treatment that the government can afford? Also, how did our countrymen feel about the brazen favoritism and tolerance extended to those who already availed themselves of smuggled Chinese vaccines even before these were given FDA approval, not to mention the arrogant “take it or leave it” pronouncements of the presidential spokesperson?
No, the Dengvaxia episode is not the culprit, even given the shrill and frantic voices of Acosta and parents of innocent children who died from the injection of a clinically untested vaccine at the time. If there is anything that should enrage opinion-makers about this past national disaster, it is how the then Aquino administration used the opportunity to deploy a still untested anti-dengue serum to almost 800,000 schoolchildren in time for forthcoming national elections, and illegally facilitated the release of billions of budgetary funds for the purpose.
DONATO SOLIVEN
Antipolo City, paraquepa@yahoo.com