The first wave of COVID vaccine compliance has subsided, and many states are turning their attention to targeting groups that have not yet responded to the call for public health.
This is true especially with our Filipino population — the fastest growing sector in the islands — comprising 16% of the statewide total and 21% of confirmed COVID cases at the time. The death rate for Filipinos who contracted the virus is 24%. One in four.
Now is the time to reach out to our fellow Filipinos, determine what their concerns are, and provide them with accurate information to make the best choice for them, their families, and the community at large. Many work in service industries (at hotels, in hospitals, serving food, at care homes) and are most susceptible to exposure and spreading COVID if not vaccinated.
Filipinos have diverse and complex reasons for being skeptical of the vaccine:
>> Some have consumed rampant misinformation about the vaccine, that it was “developed too quickly “and is “unsafe.”
>> Others have reservations about getting sick and have been cautioned by a trusted leader not to get vaccinated.
>> Because Filipinos are susceptible to high blood pressure in general, some are afraid of blood clots — of which there has indeed been a tiny percentage among millions of cases nationally.
>> Others are unfamiliar with or even fear medical procedures. Preventative medical tests that we across the U.S. consider routine including colonoscopies, mammograms and pap smears, are generally not done in the Philippines outside of cosmopolitan areas like Manila.
>> And the younger generation feels somewhat invincible and sees the vaccine as not relevant to them.
Last fall, concerned Filipino leaders, health professionals, community members, and University of Hawaii-Manoa faculty, staff and students joined efforts to address the disparate impact of COVID-19 on the Filipino community. Advocates Amy Agbayani, May Rose Dela Cruz and Agnes Malate, with funding from the federal CARES Act, established FilCom CARES. Since March 2021, FilCom CARES has coordinated mobile vaccination stations with Kaiser Permanente, Kalihi-Palama Health Center and Project Vision at FilCom Center in Waipahu, as well as churches in Kalihi, Ewa Beach, Kahuku and Waianae. Administering the vaccine at sites that are familiar, where people feel safe and are among those they trust, has increased confidence.
The FIlCom CARES public-information campaign launches this weekend with heavy presence in media across radio and TV statewide to extend the message that “we must step forward and do our part for ourselves, our families, and our fellow citizens.”
Enabling this effort is robust financial support from AARP, The Queen’s Health Systems and others who see this as a critical public-health need and part of their broader community responsibility.
Our call to action is this: We cannot sit back and be disengaged from this worldwide/statewide struggle. We must educate ourselves on the facts through native/non-English speaking languages and dialects. We should check with our doctors first for what’s best for us. And we should not be afraid to step forward and do right by our loved ones and the world.
Watch for our public service announcements on major media and Filipino media starting this Memorial Day weekend, with comments from experts and members of the Filipino community in Tagalog, Ilocano and Visayan, and specific messages from their perspectives.
As you gather with your loved ones, remember your ancestors, and fellowship on this holiday, be thankful for the gift of life, the miracle of modern medicine, and our ability to make the world safer.
Mabuhay with aloha.
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For more on vaccination information, contact (808) 300-5548 or filcomcares@filcom.org.
Emme Tomimbang Burns is a Hawaii television veteran and owner of EMME Inc. (Emme Tomimbang MultiMedia Enterprises); Agnes Respicio Malate, Ph.D. co-chairs FilCom CARES and directs the University of Hawaii-Manoa SEED Health Career Opportunity Program; Dr. Lyla Prather is a primary care physician at Cachola Medical Clinic LLC, and president-elect of the Philippine Medical Association of Hawaii.
