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How Do COVID-19 Vaccine Policies Affect the Young Working Class in the Philippines?

Dubbed the “inequality virus”, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has unveiled and magnified many of the global society’s long-standing inequalities and health inequities. This work brings together the phenomena of increased inequality and health inequities felt by the poor and young working class of th...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Estoce, Rey Hikaru Y., Ngan, Olivia M. Y., Calderon, Pacifico Eric E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9915239/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36767960
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032593
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author Estoce, Rey Hikaru Y.
Ngan, Olivia M. Y.
Calderon, Pacifico Eric E.
author_facet Estoce, Rey Hikaru Y.
Ngan, Olivia M. Y.
Calderon, Pacifico Eric E.
author_sort Estoce, Rey Hikaru Y.
collection PubMed
description Dubbed the “inequality virus”, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has unveiled and magnified many of the global society’s long-standing inequalities and health inequities. This work brings together the phenomena of increased inequality and health inequities felt by the poor and young working class of the Philippines and how they interact negatively with existing vaccine policies. The poor and the young were more likely to have experienced employment disruptions with limited access to technologies that allowed for teleworking. Informal economy workers suffered from diminished labor protection and draconian lockdowns. Disadvantaged areas persistently dealt with limited health resources, and the working class was disproportionately vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. Utilitarian vaccine policies such as mandatory vaccination and the prioritization scheme negatively interacted with these COVID-induced inequalities and health inequities. While the young working class was more likely to be unemployed, mandatory vaccine policy required that they get vaccinated before seeking re-employment. However, the prioritization scheme adopted by the government failed to target them as a priority. This left them in a vulnerable state of prolonged unemployment while on standby for better supply and improved infrastructure for vaccine rollout. Future prospects in terms of economic recovery and health equity will be affected by issues such as potential increased taxation, the rapidly digitalizing labor market that is evolving to favor highly-skilled workers, and the staging of universal healthcare in the country.
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spelling pubmed-99152392023-02-11 How Do COVID-19 Vaccine Policies Affect the Young Working Class in the Philippines? Estoce, Rey Hikaru Y. Ngan, Olivia M. Y. Calderon, Pacifico Eric E. Int J Environ Res Public Health Communication Dubbed the “inequality virus”, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has unveiled and magnified many of the global society’s long-standing inequalities and health inequities. This work brings together the phenomena of increased inequality and health inequities felt by the poor and young working class of the Philippines and how they interact negatively with existing vaccine policies. The poor and the young were more likely to have experienced employment disruptions with limited access to technologies that allowed for teleworking. Informal economy workers suffered from diminished labor protection and draconian lockdowns. Disadvantaged areas persistently dealt with limited health resources, and the working class was disproportionately vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. Utilitarian vaccine policies such as mandatory vaccination and the prioritization scheme negatively interacted with these COVID-induced inequalities and health inequities. While the young working class was more likely to be unemployed, mandatory vaccine policy required that they get vaccinated before seeking re-employment. However, the prioritization scheme adopted by the government failed to target them as a priority. This left them in a vulnerable state of prolonged unemployment while on standby for better supply and improved infrastructure for vaccine rollout. Future prospects in terms of economic recovery and health equity will be affected by issues such as potential increased taxation, the rapidly digitalizing labor market that is evolving to favor highly-skilled workers, and the staging of universal healthcare in the country. MDPI 2023-01-31 /pmc/articles/PMC9915239/ /pubmed/36767960 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032593 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Communication
Estoce, Rey Hikaru Y.
Ngan, Olivia M. Y.
Calderon, Pacifico Eric E.
How Do COVID-19 Vaccine Policies Affect the Young Working Class in the Philippines?
title How Do COVID-19 Vaccine Policies Affect the Young Working Class in the Philippines?
title_full How Do COVID-19 Vaccine Policies Affect the Young Working Class in the Philippines?
title_fullStr How Do COVID-19 Vaccine Policies Affect the Young Working Class in the Philippines?
title_full_unstemmed How Do COVID-19 Vaccine Policies Affect the Young Working Class in the Philippines?
title_short How Do COVID-19 Vaccine Policies Affect the Young Working Class in the Philippines?
title_sort how do covid-19 vaccine policies affect the young working class in the philippines?
topic Communication
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9915239/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36767960
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032593
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