WE are all talking, nay dreaming, of vaccines for the Covid-19 affliction that is the pandemic of our lifetime. The Department of Health (DoH) and the local governments have been showing off cold storage facilities, would-be vaccination centers and priority plans for who gets to the front of the line. Methinks, too much building up of expectations for too long. But where are the vaccines? In Sri Lanka, in Maldives, in Indonesia, in Malaysia, people are getting jabbed. Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan have the vaccines but are taking their time to plan how to go about mass vaccination. No vaccines here, just the vague promise that maybe in March or April, even May. So, what is the use of debating the merits of each vaccine when one has no idea of which one will be available and when? Obviously, there seems to be no element of choice when the supply is ephemeral despite being surrounded by vaccine-manufacturing countries like China, Russia and India. Let us not even venture to talk about the price for us, as it seems to be markedly different and less affordable than the prices the lucky vaccine-possessing nations are paying. Let us leave that to the Senate that seems to have become quite suspicious of what is going on regarding vaccine procurement price-wise. It seems nothing can be done right in these times.
Meanwhile the Health department patted itself on the back for keeping Covid-19 fatalities and contamination down, vis-à-vis our population of 110 million. According to the DoH, the data speaks for itself but a prescient editorial in this paper had to correct that statement by showing that data, which are numbers, are just that, unless imbued with rationalization in the context of what, where and how they come about. In other words, a logical and complete explanation and not some kind of que sera, sera.
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