Wait for your turn, Duterte tells mayors
Healthcare workers remain on top of priority in vaccination program
The country's mayors will have to wait for their turn after the government stood firm in letting healthcare workers as first in the vaccination line. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the government is hoping to complete vaccinating the country's healthcare workers against the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) soon so it can move to protect the senior citizens against the deadly respiratory disease.
President Duterte has appealed for the understanding of the mayors over the decision to prioritize the vaccination of the medical frontliners to boost their protection against the illness, Roque said.
Roque said many mayors have expressed willingness to receive the Sinovac vaccines but have been advised not to jump in front of the vaccination line.
“Nagpapahingi nga po kami ng paumanhin dahil napakaraming mayors na umaasa na ngayon po ay mababakunahan sila para ma-boost iyong confidence ng kanilang mga constituents. But we have 3.4 million medical frontlin
ers po at ang talagang desisyon po eh iyong paunang nakukuha natin ibigay po natin sa mga medical frontliners (We're asking for an apology because many mayors expected to get vaccinated to boost confidence of their constituents but we have 3.4 million medical frontliners and the decision is to prioritize the medical frontliners),” he said during a televised briefing Tuesday, March 3.
“Again, the President would like to ask for the understanding of our mayors, kasi talagang iyan po ang naging desisyon (because that's the decision),” he added.
The government launched the vaccination program Monday, March 1, a day after receiving the first batch of anti-coronavirus vaccines developed by China's Sinovac. At least 600,000 doses of the vaccines have been donated by the government of China to the Philippines.
Most of the first vaccine recipients were health professionals from government hospitals. Only three government officials, namely vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., testing czar Vince Dizon and Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Benhur Abalos were allowed to receive the vaccines on the first day of the vaccination drive.
Roque claimed that it was President Duterte who ordered Galvez and Dizon to take the vaccine “to walk the talk” in the immunization drive. Shortly after the vaccination of these officials, Roque said they decided to stick to the original plan to let the health frontliners get the priority in the vaccination drive.
More than 200,000 health frontliners from various government and private hospitals across the country are expected to receive the Sinovac vaccines in the coming days.
The government expects the arrival of additional vaccine doses from various suppliers in the coming months. The administration's goal is to vaccinate up to 70 million Filipinos to reach herd immunity and curb the spread of the contagious disease.
Meanwhile, Roque said that the Palace is looking forward to the upcoming COVID-19 vaccines because these will be used on the country's senior citizens.
“Pagkatapos po sana ay meron na tayong makuha para sa mga seniors dahil yun na po ang ating susunod na target (After we've vaccinated all health workers, we hope that we can get vaccines for the seniors because they are our next target),” Roque said.
The National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) adopted the following priority population groups for vaccination:
A1: Frontline workers in health facilities both national and local, private and public, health professionals and non-professionals like students, nursing aides, janitors, barangay health workers, etc.
A2: Senior citizens aged 60 years old and above
A3: Persons with comorbidities not otherwise included in the preceding categories
A4: Frontline personnel in essential sectors including uniformed personnel and those in working sectors identified by the IATF as essential during ECQ
A5: Indigent population not otherwise included in the preceding categories
B1: Teachers, social workers B2: Other government workers B3: Other essential workers B4: Socio-demographic groups at significantly higher risk other than senior citizens and indigenous people
B5: Overseas Filipino workers B6: Other remaining workforce C: The rest of the Filipino population not otherwise included in the above groups
Roque also said that choosing areas for sub-prioritization will be based on:
1. COVID-19 burden of disease (current active cases, attack rate per 100,000 population in the past 4 weeks, and population density)
2. Vaccination site and/or Local Government Unit readiness, particularly, its supply chain capability.
On March 1, the government started vaccinating healthcare workers in the following:
1. All the COVID-19 dedicated hospitals
2. COVID-19 referral hospitals
3. Department of Health (DOH)owned hospitals
4. Local government unit hospitals
5. Hospitals for uniformed services/personnel
6. Private hospitals