Pacquiao says he is against mandatory vaccination

FILE PHOTO: Senator Manny Pacquiao. INQUIRER

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential aspirant Manny Pacquiao said on Saturday that he does not support mandatory vaccine administration against COVID-19 since this goes against the people’s right of choice.

“Hindi ako pabor dun sa mandatory [vaccination]…Inaalisan mo ng karapatan ang bawa’t isa. Ang Panginoon nga, hindi nga tayo inalisan ng karapatan eh,” the former boxer said on Saturday afternoon during an interview with DWIZ.

(“I am not for mandatory vaccination…By doing that, you are taking away the rights of people. Even God does not take away our rights.”)

He said this in response to a question on whether he supported the “mandatory vaccination” which will take place during the government’s three-day national COVID-19 vaccination drive from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1.

“Ang binigay sa atin ng Panginoon iyong karapatan natin pumili- either sumunod sa kanya or hindi sumunod sa kanya tapos tayo, pipilitin natin ang tao na sumunod?”

(God gave us the right to choose whether to follow Him or not and now we’re here forcing people to follow this policy?)

President Rodrigo Duterte previously said that through the vaccination drive, the government aims to show that those who get vaccinated “are heroes” and those that don’t “are ugly.”

Malacanang is considering declaring the days of the vaccination drive as non-working days.

The three-day vaccination drive seeks to vaccinate 15 million individuals against COVID-19.

/MUF