Bishop says COVID shots voluntary for priests

Vaccination of Catholic priests with the new coronavirus vaccine will be purely voluntary, according to Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo.

In a report on the CBCPNews, the official news site of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Pabillo said front-liners and the vulnerable, not priests, should be prioritized.

Vaccination of priests will be up to them, he added.

In the same report, the CBCP earlier urged the government to ensure the accessibility of the vaccines to all.

Vaccines, it said, must be in line with ethical principles and administered respecting people’s moral decisions.

Some of the bishops have already declined the free vaccines from the government in order to give way to the poor who, they said, are more in need.

Cubao Bishop Honesto Ongtioco said priests and bishops in Metro Manila, also considered as front-liners, were earlier offered free vaccines.

‘Give to poor first’
Ongtioco said they would be happy if vaccines “would be given to the poor first” since they have no means to pay.

Employees of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and seafarers should also be included on the government’s priority list for vaccination against COVID-19, two House lawmakers said on Tuesday.

“I suggest all Comelec personnel should be included in the vaccination priority list to encourage more people, especially millions of young voters and dormant voters to register now and then vote in May 2022,” Ako Bicol party list Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. said in a statement.

With less than two years before the national elections, Garbin urged the government to set April 2022 “as the absolute deadline for vaccinating for herd immunity at the very least, or 100 percent as best effort to ensure the safe conduct of elections in May 2022.”

Garbin said national funding for COVID-19 vaccination is not enough, “so [local governments] with the political will and financial means are stepping up and stepping forward to help.”

In a separate statement also on Tuesday, Marino party list Rep. Sandro Gonzalez urged the Department of Health to include seafarers in the government’s priority list as soon as the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available in the Philippines.

“In recognition of their critical role in maintaining the supply of needed medical supplies, food and other basic necessities for our country’s COVID-19 crisis response, it is prudent that the government should put our seafarers on the priority list to be inoculated so they could continue performing their jobs,” Gonzalez said.

The lawmaker earlier filed House Resolution No. 01473, to ensure that the maritime sector would not be left behind when the vaccine arrives in the country. INQ