Health Secretary Francisco Duque III FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said it would be a welcome move if Congress “can muster that political will to make vaccination and booster mandatory” in the country.
Duque said that while vaccine wastage in the country is only at 1.54%, there are still many things to do to distribute the vaccines since there are about 27 million doses that will expire this July.
He reasoned that a number of Filipinos still refuse to get vaccinated and the government has done all it could to encourage people to get jabbed, including setting up drive-thru vaccination sites, tapping pharmacies and doctors’ clinics as inoculation centers, and bringing the vaccines to people’s houses.
“We would welcome if the Senate or Congress, if they can muster that political will to make vaccination and booster mandatory like in other countries pero alam ko this is going to be very controversial pero sana naman ay intindihin nila na tayo ay bumili ng mga bakuna para maproteksyunan ang publiko, ang ating mga kababayan,” he said in a taped briefing with President Rodrigo Duterte aire Tuesday night.
(I know this is going to be very controversial but I hope they can understand that we procured vaccines to be able to protect the public.)
“Hindi naman natin ma-control kung ayaw ng tao ang magpabakuna, hindi naman pwedeng sapilitan pero kahit na ganun din, gumagawa pa rin tayo ng paraan,” Duque added.
(We can’t control if some people do not want to get vaccinated, we cannot force them but we are still finding ways to encourage them.)
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