MANILA, Philippines (Updated 6:23 p.m.) — President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the vaccination of the general population against COVID-19 beginning in October, Malacañang announced Tuesday.
The Philippines has been vaccinating select sectors of the population, including healthcare workers, senior citizens, people with comorbidities and frontline workers, but has not yet expanded coverage for all people due to supply constraints.
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Malacañang added that Duterte also approved the vaccination of children, which the government aims to also start in October.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that Duterte allowed the vaccination of the general population as more vaccines come into the country. Around 69.62 million doses of various coronavirus vaccines have landed in the Philippines since March 1.
"We will start the vaccination of the general population in October. It has been approved by the president upon the advice of vaccine czar Carlito Galvez (Jr.)," presidential spokesman Harry Roque said at a press briefing yesterday.
"The vaccination of our young people is also about to start but we encourage the master listing of the parents of these young people so we can have a list by the time we start. We also expect it to start in the month of October," he added.
Last week, Galvez recommended expanding the vaccination program to include about 12 million individuals aged 12 to 17 and the general population, saying the Philippines is expected to have enough supply of pandemic jabs. He added that the inoculation should be opened to other sectors because Metro Manila and other cities with high vaccination rates are already experiencing a "saturation point."
During a pre-recorded public address last Monday, Duterte reported that Metro Manila and the cities of Baguio, Cebu, Iloilo, and Davao have already vaccinated more than 50% of their target population.
Citing information from Galvez, the president said the Philippines would get at least 100 million vaccine doses by the end of October, which means that the vaccination program can be expanded to the general population and children next month.
"Also, we continue to ramp up our vaccination drive and (we) are targeting to administer around a total of 55 million vaccines by October, Duterte said.
As of September 27, about 20.58 million people or 26.68% of the country's eligible population have been fully vaccinated while 23.78 million have received their first dose. In Metro Manila, the country's economic center, more than seven million or 72.43% of the eligible population have been fully vaccinated.
Roque said more people would be able to work and the celebration of Christmas would be happy once Metro Manila achieves population protection or at least 80 percent vaccination rate.
The Philippines is heavily banking on vaccination against COVID-19 to get past the pandemic, which has crippled its economy and killed over 37,000.
Due to the Delta variant, the government has raised its national vaccination target to 90% of the population — a goal which is still far from being met as only 18.62% have been vaccinated against COVID-19 as of September 26.
Police power
At the same public address, Duterte insisted that the government may compel people to get vaccinated through the police power of the state.
"I do not want to advance this theory but under the police power of the state, everybody can be compelled to be vaccinated. Not because we do not believe in your theory or belief or your religion but because you are a carrier and a danger to society. The problem lies there. It’s between your belief maybe, your religion, but there is a division of you know religion and state," the president said.
"During ordinary days, the government does not interfere (with your activities). Government has no power to compel any religion, faith or church to do a certain thing or not to do a certain thing. We can only cooperate. But if you infect other people or cause their deaths, and maybe it would affect a large number of our people, then you are already a danger to society," he added.
Duterte also asked government personnel who refuse to get vaccinated to get out of public service.
"Go out of government. Why? Because when you are with the government you face people, people transact business officials, well, audiences or visits," he added.
Roque said a new law is needed to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory.
"What he said is people from the government who do not want to be vaccinated should not work in government. So I guess, the president is starting a requirement that one has to be vaccinated to work in government," the Palace spokesman said.
"But this is without prejudice to Congress passing a law," he added.
Asked if Duterte's remark was a cue for Congress to pass a law on mandatory vaccination, Roque replied: "Yes, of course, that’s the jurisdiction of Congress, but the president can always certify an administration bill for such a law."
Duterte reiterated that vaccination is the key to gradually bringing back the country to normalcy.
"It will take time before we can go back to our situation just before the pandemic... We will not be able to return to the old norm. Maybe two to three years," the president said.
"But if the vaccines are there, and people get vaccinated immediately, at least it can be minimized and we can achieve the herd immunity, which is a long shot but we can attain it with the help of the people, and if God helps us, we can have a steady supply of vaccines," he added.