‘Fake news’ outbreak sends crowds to vax sites before ECQ

JAB OR BUST A throng besieges a vaccination center at a shopping mall in Manila on the eve of the two-week enhanced community quarantine that starts today. The crush was prompted by fears that the unvaccinated would be forced to stay home or—worse— be disqualified from receiving aid. Malacañang denies that President Duterte’s earlier remarks fueled the fears. —RICHARD A. REYES

Thousands of hopeful Filipinos thronged vaccination hubs in the cities of Manila and Las Piñas on Thursday, the eve of the Aug. 6-20 lockdown intended to ramp up the jab rollout and stop the spread of the highly transmissible COVID-19 Delta variant in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Many were driven by the impression that those unvaccinated would be forced to stay indoors and barred from reporting for work. Many others were afraid they would miss out on the “ayuda” (cash aid) that local government units (LGUs) are to dole during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

“To tell you honestly, we wanted to get the vaccine because President Duterte had said that the unvaccinated would not be allowed to go out. Our mayor also said, ‘no vaccine, no quarantine pass,’” said Kathlyn Rose Villanueva, 27.

In a statement, Manila’s city marshals said people came in groups or on board vans from as far as the provinces of Cavite, Bulacan and Laguna.

Kilometers-long queues were reported in Las Piñas, with crowds lining up as early as Wednesday night.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque blamed spreaders of fake news for the chaos at the jab sites that broke physical distancing rules. He said qualified residents would receive the ayuda regardless of vaccination status, and that there were no restrictions on the unvaccinated.

Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya, spokesperson for the Department of the Interior and Local Government, said disinformation was the cause of the crowds. “The ayuda approved by the President is for low-income individuals and families in the NCR regardless of vaccination status,” he said in a statement.

Linked arms

Villanueva said she and her partner arrived at SM Manila at 1 a.m.

“At first, the line was okay, until large groups of people came and began another line. I noticed there were no marshals around. People started shouting and there was a group of women who linked arms, like in rallies, and wouldn’t break up,” she recalled.

Villanueva, a no-work, no-pay employee, said people sat on the street as they waited. She said many in the queues were food delivery riders.

Eventually, with the crowd at SM Manila growing to 7,000-10,000, the city government canceled the vaccination altogether. Each vaccination hub in the city caters to only 1,000-2,000 people in a day, it said.

Manila implements an open vaccination policy. Regardless of residence, a person who preregisters in its online system will be issued a QR code for a jab.

Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna said most of those who came yesterday did not know this.

But Villanueva said: “I knew that. That’s why I preregistered a long time ago.”

She said she understood that vaccination was not mandatory. “But if they threaten to lock us up at home, it becomes mandatory for someone who needs to make a living for the day,” she said.

Villanueva said that at 7 a.m., she and her partner gave up and went home without getting a jab.

“I feel that now, more than ever, we really have to get vaccinated because we have been exposed [to the virus],” she said.

Panic and disorder

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chair Benhur Abalos said the false claims about the jab requirement caused panic.

“They were told that if they haven’t been vaccinated, they will not receive assistance. The people panicked. They went early to vaccination centers and there was disorder,” he said.

Abalos called on the National Bureau of Investigation to look into the spread of the fake news and to hold the purveyors accountable.

“Everything was in order until the proliferation of these fake news,” he said. “The misinformation will not only affect the vaccination process but also harm people’s lives,” he said.

Roque said it was the people spreading misinformation, and not the President’s warnings to the unvaccinated, that led to the early-morning chaos.

He was referring to Mr. Duterte’s recent remark that those who had yet to be inoculated should stay home, and that they would be escorted back to their house if they ventured out.

“I think there are really people spreading fake news. There are people who are up to no good in their lives. I don’t know why they don’t get COVID,” Roque said at Thursday’s press briefing.

Roque called on LGUs to implement health and safety protocols and prevent overcrowding at vaccination sites.

“Let us not turn the vaccination drive into superspreader events because the vaccine will save lives. It should not endanger lives,” he said.

He warned that failure to implement health protocols would be “dereliction of duty.”

Confusion and desire

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III also urged the public not to believe or spread “fake reports” that “cause confusion among our countrymen.”

“We feel your desire to be vaccinated … but we would like to remind everyone to keep each other safe,” he said in a statement in Filipino.

Secretary Vince Dizon, deputy chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, said many of those who flocked to the vaccination hubs did so on the off chance that they could get jabbed.

Dizon said LGUs should coordinate with the police to help in crowd control.

He reminded the public that vaccination would continue during the ECQ. “They should coordinate with their [LGUs] and not go to the vaccination sites without a schedule, “ he said.

In his own statement, Malaya said guidelines were being finalized “for the immediate release of the funds following the same system implemented during the [first ayuda given in April].”

Asked if mayors would be sanctioned for the superspreader events, he said: “It was fake news that drove people to go to the vaccination centers. It’s not the fault of the mayors. It would be unfair for us to place the blame on them.”

No jab, no work

In Las Piñas, residents walked into the city’s seven vaccination centers as early as Wednesday night. The city government announced the day before that it would provide only 4,800 shots for the first dose.

They were told by barangay personnel and mall security guards to go home as the city implements curfew from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. But they did not budge, saying other people might jump the lines.

Some said their employers implemented a “no jab, no work” policy. But Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has said this was illegal. —With reports from Patricia Denise M. Chiu and Mariejo S. Ramos