‘Popular actor not qualified for priority listing’
Actor Mark Anthony Fernandez does not qualify as a substitute recipient in the Covid19 vaccination list in the Philippines.
Department of the Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III said this on Thursday, according to the Inquirer.net portal.
“It’s easy to make an excuse. I don’t believe it,” he said in response to a defensive comment by Paranaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez who stated that Fernandez was eligible.
“Their substitution list is wrong,” Densing stressed.
“Why was he prioritised? They could have picked drivers, those who work in the wet market, the frontline worker, the essential worker. Why are they prioritising an actor who does not have any ailment?” he lamented.
Olivarez, who is also the head of the Metro Manila Council, said that Fernandez had comorbidities such as hypertension and depression, making him qualified to be a substitute on the Covid-19 vaccination priority list.
The Paranaque mayor added that the city was already done with inoculating its healthcare workers.
Based on the country’s vaccination list of priority groups, frontline healthcare workers are first in line, followed by senior citizens and persons with comorbidities.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) raised its concern over reports that public personalities, government officials, and non-frontliners are supposedly jumping the vaccination priority line meant for healthcare workers.
“As it stands, the Philippines has a limited number of vaccines allocated for medical frontliners. Individuals excluded from the priority list that jump the vaccination
queue selfishly deprive healthcare workers of muchneeded vaccines,” CHR spokesperson Jacqueline Ann de Guia said.
In a statement issued on Thursday, she said these reports of individuals “jeopardises success of, agreed upon, free vaccine allocations from the United Nations Covax facility, which calls for the priority inoculation of agreedupon groups”.
According to the country’s vaccination priority groups, frontline healthcare workers are the first to be immunised against Covid-19, followed by senior citizens and people with comorbidities.