MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health asked the public Monday to respect the government's prioritization list for COVID-19 vaccination and avoid jumping the queue for limited jabs.
In a briefing Monday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said every Filipino will get vaccinated against COVID-19 but the public must understand those who are most vulnerable to the disease are being prioritized at the moment.
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"Let's recognize and respect the prioritization framework so those who are vulnerable, at most risk of getting sick will be first in line to reduce the number of people getting hospitalized and having severe infection," Vergeire said in Filipino.
Most Filipinos don't have the connections or money to get vaccinated ahead of those on the priority list.
Frontline workers in health facilities are at the top of the government’s priority list for inoculation. They are followed by senior citizens and persons with comorbidities.
World Health Organization country representative Rabindra Abeyasinghe earlier said the Philippines may risk losing millions of vaccine doses from the COVAX facility if it fails to follow prioritization requirements.
The country received initial 525,600 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX Facility. It is expected to receive more shots from the global initiative.
Non-frontliners jumped vaccine queue
DOH Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega said a "number" of people not on the priority list have jumped the vaccination line.
"We've had reports of this. Although we’ve been saying this can’t because we have a prioritized vaccination in terms of health workers, this has been observed,” Vega said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel Monday.
"The numbers are very insignificant but we do see a number jumping the queue," he added.
The health official said he is leaving it to the vaccine cluster to propose penalties for individuals who skip the line for COVID-19 vaccination.
More than 336,000 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to Filipinos as of March 20.
The government earlier drew criticism for the unauthorized inoculation of President Rodrigo Duterte’s close-in security team with smuggled COVID-19 developed by Chinese firm Sinopharm. Columnist Mon Tulfo also revealed that he and other government officials got vaccinated ahead of everyone else.
There were also government officials who received shots during the ongoing rollout despite not being included in the priority list.
Nobody has been helt to account over those incidents. — Gaea Katreena Cabico