‘If need arises,’ Jinggoy Estrada ready to legislate mandatory COVID-19 booster jabs

Senator Jinggoy Estrada answers reporters’ questions at the Senate in Pasay City in this file photo taken on July 4, 2022. INQUIRER.net file photo / Daniza Fernandez

MANILA, Philippines — “If the need arises,” Senator Jinggoy Estrada said he is willing to initiate a measure that will make COVID-19 vaccine booster shots mandatory.

“But do we have enough supply? Yan ang tanong (That’s the question),” Estrada said in a phone interview with Senate reporters on Thursday.

“Do we have enough supply? If there’s enough supply to vaccinate all our constituents, then well and good. [But,] Kung wala tayong supply (If we don’t have a supply), what are we talking about? he asked.

Estrada stressed that health is the “primordial concern of everybody.”

The senator made the remarks when sought for comment on Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire’s earlier statement that there is no need yet to mandate the COVID-19 booster shots.

Vergeire, designated as officer-in-charge of the Department of Health (DOH), also cited the absence of a law supporting mandatory booster vaccinations.

Responding to this, Estrada said: “Talagang wala namang batas. Ngayon lang tayo nagkapandemic e, paano tayo magkakaroon ng batas dun…”

The proposal for mandatory COVID-19 booster vaccination was earlier suggested by infectious disease expert Dr. Rontgene Solante.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, however, rejected the proposal.

Hontiveros called for enhanced public health education to encourage the public to get booster shots against COVID-19 voluntarily.

/MUF/abc