Though Gerry Casida is on the priority list for a free COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines because of his asthma, he isn’t planning to get the shot any time soon. A video he found on social media of a woman claiming vaccines are being used for genocide helps explain why.
"I’ve read a lot of posts on Facebook about how many died in other countries because of vaccines, and how that’s being concealed,” the construction worker, 43, from Manila said. "My mom also consulted a folk healer, who said the vaccines could affect my heart.”
Millions of people like Casida in some of the worst COVID-19 hot spots in Southeast Asia are in no rush for inoculation or just saying no, swayed by disinformation on social media from both local sources as well anti-vaccination movements in the U.S. Those false claims are fueling vaccine hesitancy in some pockets of the region, undermining efforts to vaccinate some of the most vulnerable people in Asia and end a pandemic that has stalled the global economy.