MANILA – Umapela ang isang senador sa Department of Health (DOH) at Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) para opisyal nang masimulan ang COVID-19 vaccination sa grupo ng economic at government frontliners.
Ang DOH ang namumuno sa IATF. Kasali naman ang economic at government frontliners sa A4 priority group ng COVID-19 vaccination.
“So many vaccines have arrived in the country… However, a lot of these vaccines are just sitting in storage, with many vaccination centers reporting a lack of people to vaccinate, under the A1 to A3 categories,” ani Senate Majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri.
“As a matter of fact, I have been told that some vaccination centers have allowed walk-ins so as not to spoil the defrosted and opened vaccines,” dagdag ng mambabatas.
Batay sa huling datos ng Health department, aabot na sa higit 7-milyong doses ng bakuna ang hawak ng pamahalaan.
Pero higit 2.5-milyong doses pa lang ang naituturok.
Ayon kay Zubiri, baka pwede nang simulan ang pagbabakuna sa A4 frontliners. Lalo na’t may ilang bakuna na malapit nang mag-expire.
“Frontline workers both in the private sector and in the government sector are easily prone to infection and thus need to be vaccinated soon. If we want to achieve herd immunity, we need to start vaccinating as many vulnerable people as possible.”
Sinabi ng DOH na may higit 13,000 doses pa ng AstraZeneca vaccines na nakatakdang mag-expire sa katapusan ng buwan.
May higit 2-milyong doses din ng parehong bakuna na nakatakda naman mag-expire sa katapusan ng Hunyo.
“Of course we have to continue our efforts of vaccinating our most vulnerable sectors, so we will keep reaching out to our health workers, senior citizens, and our persons with comorbidities. They will still be top priority, and should be given a fast lane at these centers.”
Una nang sinabi ng Health department na kaya marami pang bakuna na hindi naituturok, ay dahil naka-reserba ang mga ito bilang second dose.
Nanawagan din ang senador sa ahensya at IATF na bilisan ang pagbabakuna sa mga probinsya dahil may ilang lugar sa labas ng National Capital Region Plus ang nakakapagtala ng mataas na bilang ng bagong COVID-19 cases.
“Many of these areas haven’t even started vaccinating their senior citizens yet because they’re yet to receive their allotment of vaccines. But with the new incoming batch of imported vaccines, we can now hopefully augment the stocks all over the Philippines.”
