Jabs given as they come, Palace assures public

A Malacañang official on Thursday appealed for patience and understanding from local government officials clamoring for more COVID-19 vaccines as he also denied accusations of “palakasan” or preferential treatment in the allocation of doses.

In an online press briefing from Iloilo City, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said that because of the limited vaccine supply, the government pandemic task force had to prioritize the NCR Plus 8 area composed of the National Capital Region, six nearby provinces, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao.

“It’s not only Iloilo that is lacking in vaccines. All cities, all provinces, all corners of the Philippines, there is really a shortage. This is because our supplies do not arrive in one bulk, they arrive little by little. That is why when the supplies are arriving little by little, we give priority to the most vulnerable but now that the supply [has] increased, we are already including economic front-liners,” Roque said. INQ