Filipinos express increasing ‘likes’ for vaccines

MANILA – More Filipinos are reacting positively to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines as the government continues to ramp up the national vaccination program.

Based on an online survey by data analysis and public relations company BluePrint.PH using two petabytes of data from Facebook in June 2021, 54 percent of Filipinos hit the “like” button in 12,000 posts in January.

The number increased to 76 percent in June.

“Like” reactions to vaccines increased within six months, including 61 percent in February, 68 percent in March, 76 percent in April, and 78 percent in May.

“Love” reactions likewise rose steadily from 9 percent in January to 15 percent by June, BluePrint.PH said, indicating a growing positive sentiment among Filipinos toward the Covid-19 jabs.

In comparison, BluePrint.PH said the “haha” or laughter reactions decreased from 24 percent in January to just 1 percent by June, as over 10 million Filipinos have been vaccinated.

“Angry” (negative) reactions were low at 4 percent from January to February, decreased to 2 percent in March to April, and to 1 percent in the succeeding months.

“BluePrint.PH considers the Facebook posts and reactions by Filipinos as reflection of their sentiments on issues and developments as there are an estimated 80 million Filipino Facebook account owners out of a total population of 110 million,” BluePrint.PH wrote.

Despite the limited vaccine supply, National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 Deputy Chief Implementer Secretary Vince Dizon said vaccine confidence among Filipinos increased.

“Ang totoo po ngayon, hirap pa rin tayo sa supply pero ang kinagandahan nito ay marami na po sa ating mga kababayan ang gusto nang makatanggap ng kanilang bakuna (The truth is that we are still struggling with the supply, but the good thing is many of our countrymen already want to be vaccinated),” Dizon said in an interview on Friday.

NTF Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. assured the government is doing its best to increase its vaccine stockpile.

So far, the Philippines constantly receives deliveries of China’s Sinovac.

According to BluePrint.PH, of the estimated 68,000 posts by Filipinos on Facebook from January to June 2021, 58 percent were about the China-made Sinovac vaccine, but data showed American brands Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech received more “love” reactions from Filipinos.

The words most associated by Filipinos with the Covid vaccines are brands AstraZeneca, Sinovac, Pfizer, and Moderna, procurement, COVAX, and Carlito Galvez, the analysis showed.

It added that with 6,000 posts on the vaccine issue since January 1, Filipinos made 1.9 million comments and shares and had 12 million reactions.

Of the 12 million reactions, more than half of the reactions for posts on Covid-19 vaccines were “likes,” followed by 14 percent of “haha”, and 12 percent of “Love.”

Only 3 percent were “angry” and another 3 percent gave “sad” emoticon reactions.

The data analysis also showed that the Department of Health was the top source of information for Filipinos when they post on Facebook about Covid-19 vaccines.