Improved ‘Bayanihan, Bakunahan 2’ vowed
BY VICTOR REYES and GERARD NAVAL
DEFENSE Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, chairman of the National Task Force against COVID-19, yesterday said vaccination against COVID-19 should be made mandatory as the unvaccinated will spread the virus and burden the health system if they get infected.
“Everyone should contribute to the health of the community,” Lorenzana said, supporting a recent statement of President Duterte.
Lorenzana pushed for the mandatory vaccination on the last day of the “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” program that targets to jab 9 million to 10 million people during its three-day run.
The National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) said about 5 million doses have been administered from November 29 to 30 — 2,708,018 on Day 1 and 2,292,335 on Day 2.
Health Undersecretary and NVOC chief Myrna Cabotaje said the figures are not final.
“We are still hopeful that we will be able to meet the 9 million target,” she said.
“In case we are unable to reach it, this is already a record high in our accomplishments. Before, we are at 1 million a day. Now, we reached over 2 million,” said Cabotaje.
The three-day program aims to boost government efforts to reach the goal of fully vaccinating 54 million adults by the end of the year, including 80 percent of the 12 to 17 years age group. The government has administered some 82 million vaccine doses, with 35.68 million individuals fully vaccinated as of November 30. A second Bayanihan, Bakunahan will be held on December 15-17 with the same number of target-vaccinees.
Duterte, during his public address on Monday, said he would agree with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) if the body will decide to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory. He said he can compel Filipinos to get vaccinated under the state’s police power.
Interior Secretary and IATF member Eduardo Año on Tuesday said the President wants vaccination made mandatory amid the threat of a new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, which was tagged last week by the World Health Organization as variant of concern. He acknowledged there is no law on mandatory vaccination and encouraged local governments instead to pass ordinances or issue executive orders to make the vaccination mandatory in their areas, by virtue of their powers under the Local Government Code.
Cabinet secretary and acting presidential spokesman Karlo Nograles has said Malacañang is leaving to Congress the decision on whether a law on mandatory vaccination is needed but the IATF will continue consultations with legal experts about the mandatory inoculation.
Lorenzana stressed the need for mandatory vaccination.
“Those unvaccinated are vulnerable of getting the virus and getting seriously sick. They not only burden the state by their hospitalization but will also spread the virus around.”
Asked how can this be translated on the ground, Lorenzana said: “It’s difficult if we have no law. However, we can impose restrictions on unvaccinated people, like disallowing them from entering public places like malls, restaurants, stadiums unless they have an RT-PCR taken not more than 72 hours.”
Lorenzana said the government may also require unvaccinated workers to present a negative RT-PCR test every week to be able to go to work. He said the cost of the test will have to be shouldered by the workers.
He said unvaccinated individuals may have to be prohibited also from travelling.
On the possibility of President Duterte issuing an executive order (EO) to make the vaccination mandatory, Lorenzana said: “I don’t know if PRRD will issue an EO but Secretary Año said the LGUs can make their own ordinances. That would be the best solution now,” he said.
BETTER SECOND ROUND
Cabotaje said the DOH will improve processes in the December 15-17 vaccination drive to accommodate more people.
One aspect they will be looking to improve is accommodating walk-ins and having more registration areas in the vaccination centers.
“Many complaints are in the non-accommodation of walk-ins. We need to increase registration areas given the long queues,” she said.
She also said that they will need to ensure that operating hours would not be cut short.
“Vaccination centers shouldn’t close early. No one among those queuing should go home without getting vaccinated. Vaccination should continue as long as there are people lining up,” she said.
On the target, Cabotaje said it is still 9 million vaccinees but the DOH will consult local government units on their respective targets.
Vince Dizon, presidential adviser on COVD-19 response, said the daily figures in the Bayanihan, Bakunahan may be below the target three million a day target but it is still a feat in itself as the country was able to administer more than two million vaccines a day. Dizon acknowledged that vaccine hesitancy remains a challenge.
“Vaccinating 2.7 million doses in a day is not a joke. It’s very, very difficult, that’s why not a lot of countries can do it. Based on the number we’re seeing, I think for a single-day vaccination rate, the Philippines is probably in the top five in the world,” he said.
Cabotaje on Tuesday said China administered the most vaccines in a day with 22 million doses followed by India (10 million), the United States (3.48 million) and Brazil (2.6 million).
Carlito Galvez Jr., chief of the National Task Force against COVID-19 (NTF) and vaccine czar, said the government considers the first Bayanihan, Bakunahan a success despite failing to reach the three million jabs a day target.
World Health Organization (WHO) representative to the Philippines Dr Rabindra Abeyasinghe congratulated the Philippines for its “successful Bayanihan, Bakunahan,” adding the arrival yesterday of 1.632 million doses AstraZeneca vaccines donated by France and the European Union through the COVAX Facility would further boost and support the mass inoculation program on the country.
Abeyasinghe said WHO is happy with the initial results of the Bayanihan, Bakunahan as millions of those who participated received their first dose.
Galvez reaffirmed the government’s commitment not just to vaccinate the general public but ensure that the vulnerable sectors such as the elders, those with comorbidities and the indigents get vaccinated.
Vaccines donated through COVAX are required to be administered on the elders, those with comorbidities and the indigents.
Galvez said at least three million senior citizens and persons with comorbidities have yet to receive their first dose.
‘NO VAX, NO WORK’ NIXED
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) asked the IATF to recall its policy of
mandatory vaccination for all on-site workers. IATF Resolutions 148B and 139, which authorizes the “no vaccine, no work” policy, took effect yesterday.
“We urge the IATF to modify the subject resolutions with inputs from the workers and business owners before re-implementing the resolution,” TUCP president Raymond Mendoza said in a statement.
Mendoza said the policy has displaced many workers.
“Unvaccinated workers were prevented from entering their workplaces and were asked to present vaccination cards before they were allowed to report for work,” he said.
Mendoza said the policy also “creates widespread demoralization among workforce and creates plant-level discord between employers and employees.”
Nograles said the government will work harder at crafting policies that will be more responsive to the needs of the Filipinos and lead to the country’s economic recovery as it acknowledged the country’s low ranking in a COVID-19 Resilience Ranking report.
He said data in Bloomberg’s COVID-19 Resilience Ranking report for November, in which the country again ranked last among 53 — worse than the 52nd place a month before — may be useful in evaluating the country’s pandemic response and eventually identify where it needs to improve on.
In the November report, the Philippines remains the worst place to be during the pandemic, despite having a resilience score of 43.1 or higher than 40.5 registered in October.
Nograles said indicators used in the report were the reopening progress, which involves lockdown severity, flight capacity, and vaccinated travel routes; COVID-19 status such as the current number of active cases, the positivity rate, the fatality rate, hospital care utilization rate, and vaccination rates; and quality of life.
“We have to consider that the 53 countries in the report have different COVID-19 experiences and strategies. There is little consideration for country-specific COVID-19 context, which in our view is imperative to objectively assess how countries manage pandemic response,” he said.
“We reiterate that our goal is to strike a balance between the management of COVID-19 and the safe reopening of the economy to protect lives and secure livelihoods. Having said this, our Economic Team will continue to put a greater emphasis on our country-specific conditions or context in order to craft policies that are more responsive to our people’s needs and the requisites of economic recovery,” he added. — With Jocelyn Montemayor and Noel Talacay
