LGUs get free hand which sector under A4 should be prioritized for vaccine jabs — DOH

Vaccination held at Smart Araneta in Quezon City. Photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer/Niño Jesus Orbeta

MANILA, Philippines — For the first time since the pandemic, the Department of Health is giving the local governments the leeway to decide which group of individuals among essential workers or the A4 category will be first to receive the COVID-19 vaccines.

DOH Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said Wednesday that LGUs might have to prioritize some subgroups in case vaccines remain insufficient for the approximately 13 million persons under the A4 category in the so-called NCR Plus bubble.

“So kung talagang hindi kakayanin yung 13 million na ating estimate for the A4, ang gagawin niyan, ipa-prioritize ng mga LGU kung sino yung kailangan nilang unang mabakunahan sa ating A4,” Cabotaje, chairperson of the National Vaccination Operation Center, said in a televised briefing.

(If we cannot vaccinate the estimated 13 million individuals under the A4 group, we can let the LGU will prioritize whom they need to vaccinate first among the A4.)

“We will leave it to the LGU to strategize sino ba ang most at risk, most vulnerable sa mga A4, depende sa kanilang mga lokalidad,” she added.

(We will leave it to the LGU to strategize who are most at risk and most vulnerable among A4, depending on their locality.)

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The subgroups of the A4 category include transportation workers, market vendors, religious leaders, overseas Filipino workers, and more.

The vaccination of essential frontliners along with indigent citizens is expected to begin in June.

However, Cabotaje has previously said it will focus first in the NCR Plus 8 comprising Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal, Laguna, Pampanga, Batangas, Cebu, and Davao.

EDV