FIRST JAB. Dr. Ricardo Ruñez, medical director of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, is the first official beneficiary of the vaccine produced by Chinese pharmaceutical Sinovac for Baguio and the Cordillera during the vaccination rollout in March 5. PHOTO BY EV ESPIRITU
MANILA, Philippines — Instead of returning unused COVID-19 vaccines back to the Department of Health (DOH) central office, Senator Nancy Binay on Thursday suggested giving these to those next in line in the government’s priority list.
Binay said it’s a “wrong policy” to recall the unused vaccines when these can be administered anyway to other priority sectors.
“Bakit hindi na lang iutos ng DOH na sige kung wala ng frontliners, yung next in line,” she said in an interview over ABS-CBN Teleradyo’s “Sakto, a copy of the transcript was later released to the media by her office.
(Why won’t the DOH order the use of the vaccines on those next in line if there are no longer frontliners [who need to be vaccinated])
“Baka puwede na magsimula yung mga senior citizens kung ang available vaccine ay pang senior citizens and kung walang senior citizens, yung next na lang.”
(Maybe the senior citizens can start getting the vaccines if the available vaccines are for them. If there are no senior citizens, maybe we could give it to those next in line)
“Wala ng solian kasi kumbaga ginastos na natin sa pagpapadala doon, gagastos ka nanaman sa pagbalik dito sa central office. I guess it’s maling polisiya din siguro na itong mga hindi nagamit na bakuna ay ibalik sa central office.”
(Let’s not return it anymore because we have already spent on the delivery of the vaccines and you will spend again just to return it to the central office. I guess it’s a wrong policy to return unused vaccines to the central office)
The DOH earlier asked hospitals to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine doses available to them or risk having these recalled and given to other facilities with surging COVID-19 cases.
Binay noted several reports of health workers, who are first on the priority list of the government but have refused to be injected with the vaccines.
This allegedly prompted some mayors to be vaccinated ahead of those on the priority list in the hope they could encourage health workers and their constituents to get vaccinated against the deadly coronavirus.
And while she understands the situation of the mayors, Binay recognized the government’s policy of giving the vaccines first to the vulnerable sectors like health workers, senior citizens, and those with comorbidities.
“Siguro ang dapat na naging panawagan is isama sila sa priority group just to encourage and not because gusto na nila makuha ang benefits ng vaccine,” said the senator.
(Maybe the call should have been to include them in the priority list to encourage and not because they jusr want to get the benefits of the vaccine)
Binay’s father, former Vice President Jejomar Binay, served as Makati City mayor while her sister, Abby is the incumbent city mayor.