President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. to allocate Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines to poor communities through barangay vaccination sites, Malacañang said Thursday (May 20).
According to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, this is in line with the directive not to announce the vaccine brand to be used at vaccination sites in order to prevent crowding over certain brands.
“Lahat naman po ng bakuna ay pantay-pantay, dumaan po iyan sa masusing pag-aaral, lahat po iyan ligtas at epektibo,” Roque assured.
“Si Presidente po ang nag-utos niyan dahil nakita nga po niya iyong kawalan ng social distancing doon sa ilang lugar kung saan in-announce ang pagbabakuna ng Pfizer,” he added.
The Metro Manila Council (MMC) and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) have expressed their support for the new instruction.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairperson Benjamin Abalos Jr. said they are now studying the possibility of having the screening physicians disclose the vaccine brand to the recipient at the vaccination area, instead of having the brand announced publicly beforehand.
“’Yung sinasabing baka mapahamak ang pasyente, hindi naman. Kasi at the time that you’re being screened, that is the time you’ll be informed,” he said.
The Department of Health has already clarified that only public announcements of local governments regarding vaccine brand names will be prohibited, and not the disclosure of the vaccine brand to the recipient upon vaccination.
Meanwhile, Roque said the vaccination of priority groups A4 and A5 will be conducted simultaneously in line with the expected arrival of both donated and procured vaccines.
“Unang-una, pangako ‘yan ni Presidente. Uunahin niya ang ating mga mahihirap na kababayan. Pangalawa, requirement ito ng COVAX. Sa COVAX, walang A4, it’s A1, A2, A3, and A5,” Roque said, referring to vaccines from the COVAX facility, a global collaboration providing developing countries with access to vaccines.
“Sabay na po ‘yan. Kasi ang A4 naman, ang gagamitin ngang bakuna ay ‘yung binili natin,” he added.
As of May 18, the country has already administered 3,299,470 COVID-19 vaccine doses, while over 4.5 million doses have been delivered in the month of May alone. – Report from Mela Lesmoras/AG-jlo
Watch this report from Mela Lesmoras:
