THE Department of Social and Welfare and Development (DSWD) said Tuesday, November 9, that more beneficiaries of the National Government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) are expressing willingness to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
In a radio interview, DSWD Assistant Secretary Glenda Relova said there was a high hesitancy on getting vaccinated among 4Ps beneficiaries when the rollout started in March, but it was addressed through the conduct of roundtable discussions and other information dissemination campaign programs launched by the agency regarding vaccines and how it will help people.
“We have exerted effort to have a massive information drive campaign para ang mga benepisyaryo ng 4Ps ay mabigyan natin ng tamang impormasyon tungkol sa mga benefits ng ating bakuna,” she said.
“At ito ay aming kinoconduct sa aming electronic FDS (family development sessions), meron din silang mga materials na nagmula din sa Department of Health,” she added.
Relova said 526,000 4Ps beneficiaries have been inoculated against Covid-19.
She noted that the vaccination of the A5 priority group, which includes beneficiaries of 4Ps, have just started and this explains the still low vaccination rate among the said population.
There are at least 4.3 million registered households under the conditional cash transfer program, which consists of around 18 million individuals.
Asked about the proposed “no vaccine, no subsidy policy,” Relova said there was no condition stated in the law mandating the provision of financial assistance to 4Ps that those who will not get vaccinated will not receive the benefits.
She said they are yet to receive complaints against the proposed policy.
“Nais naming bigyang diin ng departamento na sa ngayon, doon sa current natin na batas na Republic Act 11310, very specific yung mga provisions niya under Section 11, na merong mga conditionalities lang para mareceive nila ang kanilang subsidy. So once na comply nila yung mga conditions na ito, so talagang ibibigay ni DSWD yung subsidy nila at yung bakuna ay hindi part ng condition sa ating batas ng 4Ps,” said Relova.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government earlier proposed the “no vaccine, no ayuda” policy in order to encourage more people to get vaccinated. (SunStar Philippines)