Speaker: Prioritize urban areas in vaccine rollout

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco on Monday called on the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to prioritize urban areas with high cases of COVID-19 in the government’s vaccine rollout. But these areas should only be prioritized after all health workers in the country have been fully inoculated against the deadly virus, Velasco said. Under the government’s priority list, health workers are the top priority, followed by senior citizens and then those with comorbidities. Aside from Metro Manila and the nearby provinces of Cavite, Bulacan, Rizal and Laguna, Velasco said the government should also prioritize the vaccine rollout in Mega Cebu, Davao and Cagayan de Oro. So far, only 246,986 Filipinos have been fully vaccinated.

—Nestor Corrales