Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro. Photo from Marikina PIO Facebook
MANILA, Philippines — The national government has rejected Marikina City Mayor Marcelino Teodoro’s request to be vaccinated against Covid-19 with the Sinovac vaccine on Tuesday morning, the mayor said.
In an interview with reporters, Teodoro said he was told through Covid-19 testing czar Vince Dizon that the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group has advised that mayors should not get the vaccines yet since it should go first to healthcare workers.
READ: Duterte wants health workers prioritized over mayors in vaccination
“Around 8:30 in the morning ngayon, nakatanggap ako ng tawag buhat kay Secretary Vince Dizon at ‘yung tawag na ‘yun ay tungkol sa naka-schedule kong pagpapabakuna ngayong araw,” Teodoro said.
(Around 8:30 in the morning today, I received a call through Secretary Vince Dizon and the call was about my schedule for vaccination today.)
“Inadvise ako through Secretary Vince Dizon na ang pahayag ng National Immunization Technical Advisory Group ng DOH (Department of Health), nina Secretary [Francisco] Duque na hindi muna papayagang mabakunahan ang mga mayor na katulad ko dahil gusto nila na unahin ang mga healthcare workers,” he added.
(I was advised through Secretary Vince Dizon that the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group of the DOH and Secretary Duque said that mayors like me should not get the vaccines yet because they want healthcare workers to receive it first.)
Teodoro said he wanted to get vaccinated against Covid-19 to allay fears of his constituents on the safety of the vaccines.
He cited for instance the case in Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center, situated in Marikina, wherein only 130 workers are willing to get the vaccine from the 1,500 initially qualified and eligible beneficiaries.
He noted that people want to be vaccinated, but they want to see others getting the inoculation shots first.
“Kailangan at mahalaga na mayroong manguna, mayroong maging halimbawa. Ito ang dahilan kaya kahapon ay ako ay magpasya na magpabakuna upang maging halimbawa at manguna,” he added, showing to the media his profile form that also contains his consent to be vaccinated supposedly this morning.
(It is important that others would be an example in the vaccination. This is the reason why yesterday I decided to be vaccinated to set an example.)
The Philippines received on Sunday China’s donation of 600,000 doses of Sinovac’s vaccine called CoronaVac, which were distributed to select hospitals in Metro Manila.
JPV
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