DILG open to 24/7 vaccinations but rejects house-to-house proposal
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government is open to around-the-clock vaccination for Metro Manila residents during the enhanced community quarantine but maintained Monday that going house-to-house is not a viable way to expedite the inoculation of residents in the capital region.
Metro Manila is set to enter ECQ starting Friday, August 6, during which local governments will look to vaccinate at least 180,000 people daily. The national government has also assured Metro Manila mayors they will get 4 million doses during the ECQ.
Interior Spokesperson Jonathan Malaya told dzMM TeleRadyo that the idea of going house-to-house was still not logistically feasible, particularly for the health of medical frontliners.
"Imagine the conduct of house-to-house vaccination where our medical frontliners go through houses in a street, one by one. That’s not viable," he said in Filipino, adding that house-to-house operations will be limited to bedridden residents for the time being.
As it currently stands, over 4.6 million people in Metro Manila have already received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, good for around a third of the NCR population.
In a separate interview aired over CNN Philippines' "The Source," Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said he was "amenable" to 24/7 inoculation.
"Twenty-four hours a day is okay with me in order to finish at least four million vaccines. If there will be more doses, that will be better," he said in Filipino.
The interior chief said that the DILG would deploy law enforcement officers to ensure orderly vaccination at the local governments' sites.
Manila City has already issued a call for volunteers to bolster its 24/7 vaccination program in the coming weeks.
To date, 1.60 million coronavirus infections have been recorded in the Philippines, 63,646 of whom are still classified as active cases.
Malaya added that the law enforcement checkpoints currently on the outskirts of Metro Manila would also be seen in the capital region come Friday.
"There are no quarantine control points in Metro Manila, only in the neighboring province. There will only be quarantine control points [inside NCR] when we are in the ECQ," he said.
"The general rule is to limit human movement. This is for access to essential goods, those who work in the ECQ, or for vaccinations."
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