IATF puts governors, mayors 2nd in line for COVID-19 vaccine priority
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Monday said local chief executives will now be part of a new priority group in the government's COVID-19 vaccination program.
The coronavirus task force's move places politicians under "A1.5," next only to health workers and above senior citizens, who are more vulnerable to COVID-19.
It came after the League of Cities of the Philippines made the appeal for governors and mayors to be included in the A1 group, per a report by The STAR.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque in a briefing sought to explain that it is local chief executives who carry out pandemic-related curbs, including lockdowns.
"They are our instruments in the fight against COVID-19," he said, partly in Filipino. "They may not be doctors but they are equally frontliners because in all our strategies it is them who implement it."
Vaccinations in the country began in March, and efforts are still on health workers, the elderly as well as those with comorbidities.
The government has faced calls and criticism along the way to ramp up daily inoculation if it looks to vaccinate 50 to 70 million this year and achieve herd immunity.
In the previous months, local officials figured in vaccine-related controversy when some jumped in the line to get their jab.
Such had led the World Health Organization to repeat its warning that failure to follow the priority list could risk the country's share of vaccines in the COVAX facility.
By April 1, the Department of the Interior and Local Government said 13 officials, or 11 mayors, a governor and a councilor were summoned over the issue.
Despite summons and calls to explain, no one has been held accountable to date. — Christian Deiparine
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The national government has so far secured two official deals for COVID-19 vaccine supplies in the Philippines, one with Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac and another with the Serum Institute of India.
Watch this space for bite-sized developments on the vaccines in the Philippines. (Main image by Markus Spiske via Unsplash)
Health Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire says the general population may now get their second booster jab.
"We're just waiting for the release of implementing guidelines, then we'll start rolling out our second booster for the general population," she says. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
Amid questions on vaccines being administered, the Department of Health assures the public all doses are safe and effective as the “process of extending shelf life goes through thorough stability studies.”
“The government ensures that every vaccine that is injected with an extended shelf life has gone through studies, and is still safe and effective against COVID-19,” it adds.
Government must increase vaccination capacity across the Philippines in anticipation of a surge of COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant of the corona virus, Sen. Risa Hontiveros says.
She says local government units and the private sector can work together to put up more vaccination centers and deploy more vaccination teams to get more people inoculated against COVID-19.
"The active COVID cases have nearly doubled in three days. The positivity rate is almost four times the ceiling set by the World Health Organization. Huwag na nating hintayin na sobrang lumala pa ang sitwasyon bago tayo gumawa ng paraan para mapabilis ang ating pagbabakuna."
FDA chief Eric Domingo says that its agency has given emergency approval for the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.
The United States immunized around 900,000 children aged five-to-11 against Covid in the first week the Pfizer vaccine was authorized for them, a White House official says Wednesday.
Roughly 700,000 more have made appointments at pharmacies, White House Covid coordinator Jeff Zients tells reporters.
"The program is just getting up to full strength," he says, adding most of the shots were given in the last couple of days alone. — AFP
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