‘Walang dapat bayaran para sa bakuna’: Zamora warns vs online vaccine scam

VACCINATION DAY In San Juan City, senior citizens, health workers and adults with illnesses gather at San Juan Arena to get their first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. FILE PHOTO BY NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora on Monday warned residents against online scams offering COVID-19 vaccination slots in exchange for money.

“Ang aking babala, ‘wag tayo maniwala sa ganyan. Unang una, walang dapat bayaran para sa bakuna. Ang dapat lang talaga you are within the prioritization list ngunit walang dapat bayaran. ‘Yan po ay libre, galing sa gobyerno,” Zamora said in an interview over Teleradyo.

(My warning is: don’t believe in these scams. First of all, there is no payment needed for the vaccine. You should just fall within the prioritization list, no need to pay. That is free, it’s from the government.)

“Every Filipino, eventually, within the proper age and within good physical and health condition ay dapat talagang makatanggap ng kanyang bakuna nang libre mula sa ating pamahalaan (really should be vaccinated with a vaccine that’s free, provided by the government),” he added.

Authorities have started investigating the online selling of vaccination slots by people who claim to have connections with local government units (LGUs), particularly from San Juan City and Mandaluyong City.

According to Zamora, San Juan City’s public information department has already talked to one individual who was being offered a vaccination slot for a price.

“Hindi na sila natuloy sa transaction dahil naramdaman na medyo alanganin. Online sale is prone sa ganyang scam. There’s no way to verify, ‘di humaharap talaga yung [seller],” Zamora said.

(They did not push through with the transaction because it felt off. Online sales are prone to that kind of scam. There’s no way to verify, and sellers do not usually show their faces.)

Zamora has already denied any involvement of the city government’s staff in the said scam circulating online.

“Whoever is claiming to have a contact within the San Juan City LGU selling our vaccine slots is propagating a scam, which members of the San Juan City Vaccination Team is not part of,” he said in a statement last week.

Mandaluyong Mayor Carmelita Abalos, for her part, said that the COVID-19 vaccines being administered to both  residents and nonresidents of the city are free.

JE