Duterte orders immediate vaccination on elders as soon as AstraZeneca jabs arrive

THE government is not bent on waiting for the remaining healthcare workers to decide on whether or not they would opt to be vaccinated against the highly-contagious COVID-19 as President Rodrigo Duterte hinted at immediately commencing the inoculation of the next priority sector – the elderlies.

In a statement, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that the President has already instructed the National Task Force Against COVID-19 to include the poor senior citizens and those found to have comorbidities in time for the arrival of AstraZeneca and Sputnik-V COVID-19 vaccines.

“Mayroon po tayong istratehiya ‘no, hindi na po natin aantaying matapos lahat ng frontliners isasabay po natin ang mga indigent elderly lalung-lalo na sa EUA. Ang Sinovac po ay hindi magagamit sa elderly,” Roque said.

The government is expecting to complete the vaccination of the A-1priority sectors [healthcare workers] by next month, even as Roque hinted at the government rolling out vaccination for the poor families by the month of June.

“So, habang dumarating po iyong iba pang mga bakuna gaya ng AstraZeneca at saka Sputnik, isasabay na rin po natin iyong mga indigent elderly, pagkatapos lahat ng elderly, tapos iyong mga may comorbidities, at lahat naman po iyan ay inaasahan natin na hindi na po magpapatuloy kung hindi baka matapos na po ang mga medical frontliners sa buwan ng Abril at inaasahan po natin na ang publiko ay magsisimula na tayo sa Hunyo matapos po ang mga seniors at saka ang may mga comorbidities,” Roque further averred.

The Food and Drugs Administration is not recommending the use of the China-made vaccines to the elderlies.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.