Local chief executives get priority nod for vaccination

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s mayors said their appeal to include local chief executives in the priority list for the national vaccination program has been accepted by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of  Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).

The League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) lauded the IATF decision which reclassifies local chief executives as essential workers to be included in the priority list for vaccination.

Bacolod City Mayor Bing Leonardia, LCP president, said he received word from DILG Undersecretary Epimaco Densing that the mayors’ appeal was approved by the IATF.

The IATF nod means that the country’s 1,634 provincial governors and city and municipal mayors and 42,046 barangay captains will be included in the Category A4 priority group.

Category A4 includes “frontline personnel in essential sectors including uniformed
 personnel and those in working sectors identified by the IATF as essential during ECQ” as per the Interim National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (iNITAG).

This is fourth in line in the priority list, which includes health frontline workers, senior citizens, persons with comorbidities and the indigent population.

Leonardia said that mayors should be considered as frontliners against the pandemic who face risks of exposure during their work.

“This development will surely inspire and encourage our local government leaders to even work harder and more effectively in the implementation of our COVID programs, especially now that we are accelerating our efforts to vaccinate as many of our people, given the surge in cases in many areas in the country in recent weeks,” Leonardia said in a statement.

Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya earlier said the vaccination of mayors could help improve vaccine confidence among the public. –  Emmanuel Tupas