DOH backs mandatory inoculation for vulnerable sectors

MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) is in favor of mandating vaccination for sectors that are at most risk of getting the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

“Definitely, if we are going to have this mandated for specific sectors only, DOH will also support this because we need to do this so that we can achieve the protection for population,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Friday.

In a presser, she said the proposal is still being studied as a law must be passed first to make vaccination compulsory.

“‘Yong pag-uusap tungkol sa mandatory vaccination not to impose on certain sectors but to impose on specific sectors which are vulnerable and nagfi-face talaga sila ng tao kapag nagtra-trabaho sila (The proposed mandatory vaccination is not to impose on certain sectors but on specific ones which are vulnerable),” she explained.

“So ito ay pinag- uusapan lahat, of course we will heed to that statement of the Department of Justice na nakailangan ng batas ‘yan (We’re still discussing those and of course we will heed to the statement of the DOJ that a law is needed for that),” she added.

Vergeire noted that the government is exerting all efforts to encourage more people to get inoculated, they can still see some level of hesitancy among the public.

Among the factors influencing them range from fear of side effects, brand preference, and getting swayed by misinformation circulating on social media.

“We will never achieve the immunity na kailangan ng population natin kung may mga sektor sa society na hindi mababakunahan, so isa sa tinitignan natin na paraan is to make it mandatory (that our population needs if there are sectors in our society who are not inoculated, so one of the solutions that we are looking at is making vaccination mandatory),” she said.