Vaccine or Death?

Recently, Davao Archbishop Most Rev. Romulo G. Valles called for the establishment of parish-based vaccination sites and has in fact directed the Archdiocesan Social Action Center (ASAC) to organize an Archdiocesan Vaccination Team to help administer a sectoral vaccination against COVID-19.

In his Circular Letter No. 30 dated August 7, 2021 addressed to all parishes, the archbishop urged both the religious and laity to actively respond to the church and the government’s campaign to attain the herd immunity target of 70% (1.2 million) of the country’s total population by December 2021.

The archbishop’s call is both a clear and unequivocal expression of concern and alarm. With other regions of the Philippines like Cagayan Valley, Ilo-ilo, Cebu and the National Capital Region already experiencing a dangerous spike of infections as seen through the increasing number of deaths and the overwhelmed medical system, it is only a matter of time that Davao and the neighboring regions will suffer the same fate if the necessary preventive health protocols are not religiously implemented and followed.

As Catholics, we are taught to be faithful to the Church’s teachings. The Pope himself has been vaccinated. Leaders across the globe have had themselves inoculated as well. Moreover, medical experts and scientists have time and again sounded the bugle call to proclaim to all and sundry that the best way to fight Covid-19, apart from the usual masking and social distancing, is vaccination.

We no longer have the luxury of time. We cannot delay the inevitable. The choice is simple: vaccine or possible death. The choice is ours to make.