MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang still has not responded to the Department of Health’s (DOH) request to extend the state of calamity in the country declared by the previous administration due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the department said Wednesday.
“No categorical and no official response to this request for the extension of the state of calamity,” said DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire during a press forum.
However, Vergeire said that the department has already begun preparing in case the extension is denied, acknowledging President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s hesitation to extend it.
“Indirectly, the President has already verbalized in one of his media outings that he is very hesitant to extend the state of calamity,” said Vergeire.
“And coming from there, from his statement, we are already preparing in parallel so that we can continue on with the other things we do for this response,” she added.
READ: Marcos Jr. very hesitant to extend pandemic-induced state of calamity in PH
Vergeire also said that the DOH has already discussed the implications and the options the national government can take during a meeting last December if the state of calamity will not be extended.
Both the DOH and the national government have also determined that implementing the vaccination against COVID-19 will not be interrupted even if the state of calamity will not be extended.
“Ayon sa mga pag aaral and pag uusap during that time lumabas din naman na as according sa law, hindi mapuputol ang pagpapatupad ng pagbabakuna dahil meron tayong one year validity after the seizing of the state of calamity na pwede pang magamit ang bakuna under EUA (Emergency Use Authorization),” said Vergeire.
(According to the studies and discussions during that time, it also came out that according to the law, the implementation of vaccination will not be interrupted because we have one-year validity after seizing the state of calamity that the vaccine can still be used under EUA.)
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