MANILA, Philippines — Government officials who jumped the line in the vaccination and received vaccine shots despite not belonging in the priority sector will still be given a second dose of the vaccine, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the second dose should be administered to them so as not to waste the first dose that was given to them.
“Let’s not call it priority pero bibigyan sila ng second dose. Hindi naman po natin pwede sayangin ang bakuna na naibigay na. Kailangan ibigay pa rin ang second dose,” she said in an online press briefing.
(Let’s not call it a priority but they will still be given the second dose. We cannot waste the vaccines that were already given. We have to give the second dose.)
However, Vergeire reminded government officials to not breach the priority list, citing a call of the World Health Organization (WHO) that the government should respect the prioritization list for vaccinees to ensure a continued supply of COVID-19 vaccines from the Covax Facility.
“These AstraZeneca vaccines are for health workers, and any breach doon sa protocol na ipinapatupad natin ngayon (that we are enforcing now) might jeopardize the succeeding vaccines that will come from Covax,” she said.
“So nakikiusap po tayo na sana po sundin muna natin ‘yung prioritization framework natin. Lahat naman po tayo magkakaroon ng bakuna in the coming months ahead,” she added.
(So we are pleading that we should follow the prioritization framework. All of us will receive vaccines in the coming months anyway.)
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque earlier admitted that there were some breaches on the vaccination protocols after Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority public services head Michael Salalima received Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine despite not being health workers.
Roque, however, explained the two officials were only prodded by the staff of the Pasay City General Hospital to be vaccinated to boost public confidence.
Meanwhile, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. also said that the vaccination of Quezon Rep. Angelina Tan as a dependent of a healthcare worker will be investigated since there is no such directive from the national government.
But Tan, who is a doctor by profession, believes she did not commit any violation when she received the Sinovac vaccine, saying she was vaccinated as a frontliner and not as a lawmaker.
Vergeire earlier said the DOH is mulling possible sanctions against government officials who got vaccinated against COVID-19 despite not being on the priority list.