Envoy: UK won’t accept ‘nurse for vaccine’ proposal

The United Kingdom has no plans to link the Philippines’ procurement of COVID vaccines to the deployment of Filipino nurses and other health care workers (HCWs) to the UK.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is proposing to deploy more nurses to the UK and Germany in exchange for their providing the Philippines with some 600,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

“We’ve got no plans to link vaccines with those conversations around the recruitment of nurses,” UK Ambassador Daniel Pruce told journalists at a virtual press briefing yesterday.

“You know, those two strands of conversation I think continue, but as I’ve said again, we have no plans to link those two issues,” Pruce said.

Pruce confirmed that the proposal was raised by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III during their conversation a few weeks ago, but declined to give details.

He said the hiring of Filipino health care workers is done based on the British government’s policy decision in terms of managing the flow of health care professionals.

Britain’s health ministry said it was not interested in such a deal since its priority was to use shots domestically.

A report of British newspaper The Independent said the UK has no plans to agree to a vaccine deal with the Philippines that is linked to recruitment of nurses.

The report quoted a UK Health and Social Care official, who said the UK is grateful to the 30,000 Filipinos working tirelessly on the frontline of the pandemic.

“Our priority is to ensure coronavirus vaccines are made available to the UK public first, but we also recognize that this virus will not be beaten until it is defeated in every country,” the official said.

“We have confirmed that we will share any surplus vaccines in the future, for example, through the COVAX international procurement pool.”

Pruce acknowledged that thousands of Filipino health care workers in Britain have made a significant contribution to the COVID-19 response of the National Health Service (NHS).

The NHS, he said, is keen on sustaining the continuous flow of these professionals from the Philippines to the UK.

“We continue to discuss with the government of the Philippines the arrangements whereby Filipino health care workers can continue to work in the UK, primarily in the NHS,” he added.

Pruce said the UK has committed any vaccine excess it may have would be directed through the COVAX or COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access facility of the World Health Organization.

“It will be through the COVAX facility that distribution of surplus vaccines to developing countries will be managed in a fair and equitable way,” Pruce said.

COVAX is a global initiative aimed at providing equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, led by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, WHO and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. With Alexis Romero, Mayen Jaymalin, Sheila Crisostomo, Paolo Romero, Delon Porcalla