Cayetano volunteers to be vaccinated publicly

Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano. INQUIRER file photo / JOAN BONDOC

MANILA, Philippines — Former House Speaker and Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday said he will get inoculated against Covid-19 in public to set a “good example” for the mass vaccination program.

“In welcoming you today [Health] Sec[retary] [Francisco] Duque [III], Secretary [Carlito] Galvez [Jr.] and the whole IATF [Inter-Agency Task Force], Secretary Vince [Dizon]. I personally, umiikot kasi ako, sabi nila magpa-vaccine ka na pero sabi ko ayoko unahan ang frontliners,” said Cayetano in a speech delivered during Taguig City’s Covid-19 vaccination dry run.

(In welcoming you today Health Sec. Duque, Secretary Galvez and the whole IATF, Secretary Vince. I personally go around, they said I should be vaccinated but I said I don’t want to preempt our frontliners.)

“Pero kung kailangan ninyo ng additional na personal na haharap sa tao, sa barangay health workers, sa nutritional workers, sa mga kapatid natin sa media na niri-risk ang buhay nila at alam mo by the nature kasi kapag nasundan ng camera minsan di makasunod sa social distance. But I will also volunteer na magpa-bakuna in front of others to set a good example,” the lawmaker further said.

(But if you need a person who will face the public, the barangay health workers, nutritional workers, and our friends in the media who are risking their lives because by nature they would always go around and almost violate the social distancing. But I will also volunteer to be vaccinated in front of others to set a good example.)

As of Tuesday, the Philippines logged a total of 516,166 total number of Covid-19 cases with 475,423 recoveries and 10,386 fatalities.

The controversial Sinovac vaccine is one of the companies that the national government is eyeing for its mass immunization against Covid-19.

Critics were alarmed over Sinovac’s prices, as Senator Panfilo Lacson and other sources said the vaccine costs around $5 or around P240 per dose in some instances, but it goes for around $38 or around P1,800 in the country.

JPV