Malacañang assures Covid-19 vaccine access for informal settlers

MANILA – Malacañang on Tuesday said informal settlers will have easy access to coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) inoculation as vaccination centers would be set up near populated areas.

This, after President Rodrigo Duterte said he wanted “mobile” vaccination for informal settlers who would have difficulty traveling to hospitals to get Covid-19 jabs.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Health Secretary Francisco Duque on Monday night assured the President that informal settlers won’t have trouble accessing vaccination sites.

“As explained to him by Secretary Duque, meron pong mga iba’t-ibang mga vaccination centers na itatayo ang mga lokal na pamahalaan. At itong mga vaccination centers naman, hindi malalayo sa mga lugar o mga tahanan na tinitirhan ng mga informal settlers (there are different vaccination centers put up by local governments. And these vaccination centers won’t be far from the homes of informal settlers),” he said.

Citing Duque, Roque emphasized the importance of monitoring Covid-19 vaccine recipients for 30 minutes to one hour for possible adverse effects.

“Kasi importante rin na ma-monitor sila matapos mabakunahan at kung merong adverse effect ang bakuna may naka-standby na ambulansya at saka siyempre yung mga vaccination centers malapit din po sa ospital (Because it’s important to monitor recipients after they get vaccinated and if there are adverse effects there are ambulances on standby and of course vaccination centers will be near hospitals),” he added.

Roque assured indigents that as soon as the bulk of Covid-19 vaccines are delivered to the country by April and May, vaccination among informal settlers could kick-off.

“Ang emphasis ng Presidente po sa mula’t-mula uunahin natin ang mahihirap pagdating dun sa pagbabakuna (The President emphasized from the very beginning that we have to prioritize the poor in vaccination),” he said.

Roque said local government units (LGUs) have already prepared a list of vaccine recipients in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) roster.

“Yung mga local na pamahalaan po may listahan sila ng mga 4Ps beneficiaries. At eto po yung mga sinasabi niyong nakatira sa ilalim ng tulay, eto po yung pinakamahirap sa lahat ng ating mahihirap. Kasama po sila sa listahan (Local governments have a list of 4Ps beneficiaries. These are the ones who live under bridges, these are the poorest of the poor and they’re on the list),” he said.

Frontline healthcare workers, who fall under the “A1” category, are first in line in the government’s national vaccination program followed by senior citizens aged 60 and above (A2), persons with comorbidities not otherwise included in the preceding categories (A3), frontline personnel in essential sectors (A4), and the indigent population (A5).

The priority groups have been approved by the country’s interim National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (iNITAG).

In a pre-recorded speech late Monday night, Duterte said he wanted the government to carry out “mobile” vaccination to provide easy access to poor families who did not have the means to travel to hospitals to get jabs.

“We’re thinking of going mobile kayo na ang pumunta (you go there) or if you are near the barangay you just wait kasi ang order ko ngayon (because my order now) is for the team to give you the vaccine while traveling. Marami tayong sasakyan (We have lots of vehicles). We will use all government assets,” Duterte said.

Duque, for his part, Duque said that bringing vaccination to highly populated or depressed areas would pose challenges such as lack of manpower to monitor the vaccine recipients “for adverse effects following immunization”.