Vaccinee has final say on what brand to accept

MANILA – It will still be up to the recipient to decide what vaccine brand he wants to get.

Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the Inter-Agency Task Force has clarified that vaccinees will be informed of the brand to be administered before the inoculation.

“While the President has given a directive not to publicly announce what particular vaccine will be made available in a particular site, everyone will be properly informed at the site of the actual vaccine to be administered before the signing of the corresponding consent form,” Guevarra told newsmen on Friday.

A vaccinee will not be compelled to take the jab if, upon medical advice, another brand is more suitable to the medical condition.

“If he/she declines to take the available vaccine, he/she will have to line up anew and take a chance again at some later time,” Guevarra added.

The new policy was prompted by long queues in vaccination sites where a certain vaccine brand was made available while there is less demand for other equally efficacious vaccines.

“The latter stock might go to waste,” he said.