Gov’t to study plea to include nat’l athletes, coaches in vaccine priority list

MANILA, Philippines — The government will study suggestions to include in the priority list for vaccination against Covid-19 the national athletes and coaches soon competing in the 2021 Southeast Asian Games, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said Wednesday.

Galvez noted that vaccines the country will soon receive from the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility require to follow the priority list covering health workers and vulnerable sectors.

“Ididiscuss po yan natin especially sa ngayon, ang available po is yung COVAX. Wala po sa listing yan kasi very stringent ‘yung listing ng WHO na ang ano natin is yung healthcare workers at saka yung vulnerable community,” Galvez said in a televised briefing when asked if it is possible to also prioritize national athletes and coaches.

(We will discuss this especially now that the only available vaccines are coming from the COVAX. They’re not included in the priority list. WHO is really stringent that the priority must be healthcare workers and the vulnerable community.)

READ: PH to get 5.6 million doses of Pfizer, AstraZeneca vaccine in Q1 

“Anyway, meron pa namang ample time for them to have the vaccination. Titignan po namin sa IATF [Inter–Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases] kung in case we have excess vaccines, pwede po natin pagbigyan,” he added.

(Anyway, there is still ample time for them to have the vaccination. We will look into it at the IATF if in case we have excess vaccines, we can give it to them.)

Deputy Speaker Mikee Romero earlier urged the IATF to prioritize athletes bound for the Tokyo Olympics set from July 23 to August 8 and SEA Games to be held in Vietnam from November 21 to December 2.

Philippine Sports Commission, meanwhile, said it would ask for assistance should the organizers of the Tokyo Olympics require athletes vaccinated ahead of the games.

RELATED STORY

PH eyeing to vaccinate ‘economic frontliners’ by Q2 of 2021 

ac