Probe ordered of De Oro city employees who cut vaccine line ‘under the guise of substitution’

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Cagayan de Oro Mayor Oscar Moreno has ordered an investigation into the vaccine injection of local government employees who are not on the priority list.

“I asked a department head to explain why 10 of her staff members were vaccinated ahead,” Moreno told reporters. “That’s on record, I asked her to explain because I found that very irregular,” Moreno said.

Moreno, however, did not name the department head or her office.

He said the employees took the vaccine shots “under the guise of substitution.”

According to advisory by the Department of Health, inoculation teams have a list of individuals who could substitute for recipients who failed to show up on the schedule of their injections.

“We have to be careful with substitution,” Moreno said, addressing local health authorities.

Moreno said that he called up the doctor overseeing the administration of vaccine shots in the injection center to tell her that he was aware of what happened.

“I know everybody wants to be vaccinated, even me. But let us follow the prescribed procedures or else people will lose trust in us,” Moreno said.

At this stage of the country’s vaccination rollout, the shots are intended for health care workers.

“I will spare no one who defies the proper procedure. That’s a fair warning to anyone,” Moreno said.

“If we just let this pass, next we know, they would be accommodating their family members,” he added.

The only way to address the problem of everybody wanting to jump the line is to hasten the pace of inoculation so that all will be assured of their time for a shot, the mayor said.

TSB