NATIONAL Task Force Against Covid-19 chief Carlito Galvez Jr. is mulling of making the Covid-19 vaccination mandatory in the country to maximize the people’s protection against the virus especially now that the government has sufficient supply of vaccines.
Galvez said Thursday, November 4, that individuals who were fully vaccinated against Covid-19 are still not fully protected against the virus considering that there are still unvaccinated people in their communities.
"Yes, I'm in favor of that because ang higher interest natin, we are in a pandemic. Ang sabi ng WHO (World Health Organization), we are not safe if everyone is not safe. Kung lahat tayo vaccinated, dun lang tayo magkakaroon ng complete safety and protection," he said in a television interview.
“We need to inoculate or maybe mandate vaccination kasi talagang (because) we are at risk if we will not vaccinate everybody. If we will have a sizable amount of 20 million roaming around, those anti-vaxxers roaming around, it will even threaten those vaccinated," he added.
Galvez said President Rodrigo Duterte may issue an executive order making Covid-19 vaccination mandatory.
He said he is looking into the mandatory vaccination of recipients of the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
“Nakita ko katulad ng mga tinatawag natin, ‘yung binibigyan ng 4Ps dapat pag binigyan sama na ‘yung vaccination... parang sinasabi natin pagka walang vaccine, walang ayuda,” said Galvez.
(Vaccination must be included in 4Ps assistance distribution. It’s like saying no vaccine, no assistance.)
“Nakita natin sa Las Piñas ginawa ‘yun, ang dami nagpabakuna (Las Piñas implemented that and a lot of people have submitted themselves to vaccination),” he added.
Galvez urged local government units to intensify vaccine information dissemination and provision of incentives to those who will get vaccinated to address vaccine hesitancy.
In a survey conducted by the Octa Research group from September 11 to 16, only 61 percent of the respondents have expressed willingness to get inoculated against Covid-19, while 22 percent said they opt not to get vaccinated.
The region with the highest vaccine hesitancy based on the said survey was in Visayas with 32 percent.
Galvez said they are also addressing vaccine hesitancy in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm) by procuring more single-dose regimen Jansenn (Johnson & Johnson) vaccines.
“Talagang problema natin ‘yung (Our problem is really) hesitation. When we deployed ‘yung three million J&J, ang taas ng acceptance (the acceptance was high). Actually, tinanong kami kung pwede ba J&J ‘yung ano naming (they asked if J&J was our vaccine),” he said.
“Baka this November, baka dumating ‘yung 4.5 million and we intend to deploy it to different areas of Barmm. Considering also Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, tsaka Basilan. Very ano, tinatawag natin advantageous ‘yung J&J na single siya,” he added.
So far, a total of 27,360,873 individuals have been fully vaccinated in the country, while 31,955,891 received the first dose.
On Tuesday, November 2, Duterte said he was not content with the country’s vaccination rollout, noting the slow deployment of Covid-19 vaccine doses.
Galvez said there were issues on logistics, distribution and mobilization, particularly in the municipal and barangay level, but it is already being addressed. (SunStar Philippines)