DOH Saddened About Local Officials Skipping COVID-19 Priority List

DOH Saddened About Local Officials Jumping COVID-19 Vaccination Priority List

DOH SADDENED – Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire lamented on how some local officials skipped the Department of Health’s (DOH) vaccine priority list.

Recently, the Philippines has reported that several mayors have already been vaccinated against COVID-19. However, they shouldn’t be able to get the vaccinations this early.

With the DOH’s previous priority list, local officials were listed as B3. That meant they were eight in the government’s vaccine priority list. But, due the a recent announcement from the DILG, local officials such as Governors, Mayors, and Barangay Captains were upgraded to A4.

DOH Saddened About Local Officials Skipping COVID-19 Priority List

Meanwhile, according to an article from ABS-CBN, Verigeire said:

“Nakakalungkot po and it’s really so frustrating. Hindi po ba tayo pare-pareho ng pakiramdam na gusto nating proteksiyonan lahat ng ating healthcare workers because for every single dose that we get from them, we deprive healthcare workers of these dose for their protection”.

Currently, the Philippines has a low supply of COVID-19 vaccine that was meant for health workers struggling to keep up against the surge in cases. Additionally, skipping the vaccine priority list may cost the Philippines procurement of vaccines from the COVAX Facility.

“This kind of practice should be stopped so we can ensure that the COVAX supplies will arrive in the coming months”

As of March 23, over 508,000 frontliners were inoculated with the first COVID-19 shots. But, with the new upgrade, over 1,700 governors and mayors, along with more than 42,000 village chiefs were reclassified into the A4 category. This means local officials could now be classified as essential frontline workers.

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READ ALSO: DILG Upgrades Vaccine Priority For Governors, Mayors, Brgy. Captains

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