ALTHOUGH PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte previously said that he and other government officials will be last to be vaccinated against coronavirus disease (Covid-19), Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles on Sunday said he has no problem getting shots to address vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos.
In an interview over DZBB, Nograles said he is willing to receive Covid-19 shots but only if health experts advise members of the Cabinet to help boost confidence in vaccines.
“Okay rin kami diyan pag sinabi ng mga experts sa amin na ‘O sampulan daw kayo’. Wala rin po kaming problema diyan para lang pataasin ang confidence ng mga magpapabakuna (We’re okay with it if experts ask us to get vaccines first. We have no problem doing that to boost confidence),” he said.
However, Nograles explained that because of limited vaccine supply, government has already come up with a priority list which includes healthcare workers, teachers, social workers, other essential workers outside the health and education sector, overseas workers, and uniformed personnel.
“Ang konteksto po nun is because number one, limited po yung supply ng vaccine. Number two, dahil limited yung supply ng vaccine, meron tayong priority list (The context there is number one, the supply of vaccine is limited. Number two, because the supply is limited, we have a priority list),” he said.
He noted that Duterte and other government officials will be last to make sure priority groups receive them first.
In a speech last Jan. 13, Duterte declared that he and his Cabinet members will be the last to receive the vaccine.
"Huli na kami. Kung may maiwan para sa amin, kay Bong [Go], kay Secretary [Delfin] Lorenzana, kung may maiwan, eh di para sa ‘tin. Unahin natin sila (We will be the last one. If there will be left for us, for Bong, for Secretary Lorenzana, then we will have them. Let's prioritize them)," he said.
Despite this declaration, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte is still willing to be the first to be inoculated to convince more Filipinos to get vaccinated.
Duterte first expressed willingness to get injected in public with a vaccine that will be donated by the Russian government to the Philippines in August last year.
On Tuesday, Roque explained that Duterte will be “taking the route” of United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, who were inoculated with vaccine doses in private.
Roque added that the Palace will just make an announcement after Duterte’s vaccination.
The Philippines is set to spend around PHP82.5 billion for the procurement of 148 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine from seven pharmaceutical firms, including China’s Sinovac and the United States’ Pfizer.
The government has so far secured around 25 million doses of Sinovac vaccine, with the first 50,000 doses set to arrive next month.(By Azer Parrocha)
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