Metro Manila mayors start getting vaccinated vs COVID-19
MANILA, Philippines — Two mayors in the capital region have already taken their coronavirus jabs after the coronavirus task force ruled to classify local executives as frontliners, placing them among the first priority list for vaccination.
This comes after the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases approved a resolution to allow over 400 governors and mayors of critical and high-risk areas to get their jabs.
According to the Manila City Public Information Office, Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso received his first dose of the Sinovac vaccine at 10 a.m. Sunday at the Osmeña High School in Tondo. The office added that 41,692 other individuals in Manila City have already gotten vaccinated.
Muntinlupa City Mayor Jaime Fresnedi, a senior citizen, is also set to receive AstraZeneca jabs "as soon as they arrive," City Information Officer Tez Navaro told reporters.
Asked if he had plans to get a jab, San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora said in a text message to reporters: "Gusto niyo manood? (Do you want to watch?)" The mayor is set to publish an advisory on the matter later Sunday.
Philstar.com reached out to the Office of Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte through her chief of staff, Weng Macatao, but has yet to receive a response. The mayor announced last Monday that she had tested positive for COVID-19 but would be working remotely from an isolation center.
"It slows down their programs if they get sick. I'm personally in support of this. I've seen how mayors work. They're on the forefront of everything...It might be better for mayors to just get vaccinated in areas where the cases are really rising," MMDA chairman Benhur Abalos, himself a former mayor, said in a text message.
Abalos added that the move to get local chief executives vaccinated had the support of most city unions.
To recall, the Department of the Interior and Local Government issued show-cause orders to a number of local chief executives demanding they explain why they took coronavirus vaccines prematurely and ahead of their priority designations in the national vaccination program.
This also comes after the Palace announced that the enhanced community quarantine in the bubble would be extended for one more week.
As of the Department of Health's latest tally Sunday afternoon, 795,051 coronavirus infections — 135,526 of them active — have now been recorded in the country after the department logged 11,028 more.
The Philippines has been on community quarantine for 385 days, good for the world's longest lockdown.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
- Latest
- Trending
