Ay Ko’g Lambda: Dealing with the Youth’s Vaccine Hesitancy amidst New Rapid-Spreading COVID-19 Strai

As crazy as it sounds, it's almost been two years since the first strain of Covid-19 was detected: the Wuhan strain. As viruses began to mutate, variants have appeared from different parts of the world—which caught the public by storm. During the outbreak of the first strain, young people were not as affected—recuperating with mostly mild symptoms. Or so we thought until new and rapid-spreading strains have been detected recently: the Delta, Lambda, and Mu variants.

First found in India, Peru, and Colombia respectively, the three variants are touted as “highly contagious” and “vaccine-resistant” by the World Health Organization. The Delta and Lambda variants are said to spread 50% quicker than the original Wuhan strain, while the Mu variant is still under further study. Scary, right? With death tolls increasing around the world, 99.5% of those infected are unvaccinated.

And that doesn't spare the youth.

Whether it’s bravado, naïveté, or just nescience in general, vaccine hesitancy amongst the youngblood has become a problem—even in the Philippines. It has gotten out of hand in the US, with Generation Z being so casual about vaccination that they “choose to wait and see first.” The youth’s complacency has been an issue as well, citing how they were never considered a high-risk group in the first place. Yet as the paradigm of the pandemic continues to shift, younger people fall easily ill and affected. Countries in the west have seen the age group’s hospitalization rate soar to 25%, overwhelming hospitals in the long run.

Meanwhile, Filipinos know they’ve had a tough history with vaccines especially with the Dengvaxia situation. Numerous news articles have reported that our past with the attempted dengue vaccine program, which resulted in casualties, constitutes one of the main factors of why anti-vaxxers breed in the country. However, the Covid-19 pandemic is a different story. It continuously unravels without an eventual conclusion in sight; case after case, variant after variant. You could say the end of it is bleak. But no matter the air purifier, no matter how expensive the face mask, no matter how far the social distancing—the solution is only in the form of a vaccine vial.

If there’s any speck of hope and good news, the Philippine Food and Drug Administration has just approved the usage of Moderna vaccines on teens aged 12 to 17. This was carried out to further protect the younger age bracket against the imposing threat of the Delta variant. While that’s done, it’s time to get the youth prepared, educated, and have them do their part.

There’s no need to hear excuses over how “vaccines were developed too quickly” or “I’m young and I trust my body.” If anything, the youth must do better than the previous generations; not succumb to being just as tone-deaf over today’s circumstances. The youth has already paid its price, because waiting for an ultimatum was never the solution to begin with. Young people can’t afford to feel invisible and fireproof in the face of a pandemic. Who knew getting Generation Z to believe in science is a frightening task in itself?

So… ay ‘kog Lambda? I know. I would never want that variant on you.