‘Don’t use vaccines to boost 2022 candidacy’

MANILA, Philippines — As the country expects more COVID-19 vaccines in the coming months, senators warned yesterday against using the jabs to promote the candidacies of those seeking posts in the 2022 elections.

Sens. Sonny Angara and Richard Gordon, in separate interviews with dwIZ, said voters would easily see through the ruse if a political candidate would try to use the vaccines to promote his or her candidacy.

“Much of the vaccine doses will arrive in the second half of the year, and I think the people will not like it if the vaccines are politicized,” Angara said.

Earlier, presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. was criticized for saying that administration candidates in the elections in May next year would have the advantage because of Malacañang’s response to the pandemic.

Angara said Roque may be correct, but his prediction would depend on the perception of the people on how the Duterte administration handled the pandemic, which so far has claimed the lives of nearly 20,000 Filipinos.

Meanwhile, Gordon said it would not surprise him if some candidates try to leverage vaccines to gain votes.

But more than that, what concerns him are the vaccination roll-out challenges like the lack of freezers and other supplies as well as health workers who can inject vaccines.

“Also how about our young children? When can they be vaccinated?” he asked.

Gordon, who said he may run for president, was also criticized in the past for announcing that those who want to have vaccines from the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), which he heads, will be charged a few thousand pesos.

PRC officials, however, clarified that the organization was not selling COVID-19 vaccines for profit, which is against the law, but merely requires vaccinees to pay the cost of the jabs and its administration.