TACLOBAN City Mayor Alfred Romualdez is in hot water over a social media post that saw him being injected with a China-made vaccine, way ahead of the healthcare workers as provided for in the list released by the National Task Force Against COVID-19.
Aside from bumping off the top on the list of the NTF’s priority sectors for national vaccination, Romualdez also drew flak for violating a guideline imposing mandatory wearing of face mask and face shield.
However, Rumualdez warded off criticisms even as he claimed that the act is necessary to boost public confidence in the low efficacy CoronaVac vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech.
“Never say that I did it to save myself before others. I did it to make the people see that it was okay to get the vaccine. I wanted our people to take it for protection, and so that the efforts of the national government will not be in vain,” Romualdez said.
In a separate statement posted online, the city government’s information office said that the local chief executive “did not bump off anyone in the order of priority to cause disadvantage to health workers since there was a resistance to inoculation with Sinovac and thusly, he was qualified to be vaccinated as an LGU official.”
“All this much ado about something that was well-intentioned merely results in the breaking down of the confidence in the vaccination program,” it claimed.
Sought for comment, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that the matter has already been brought to the attention of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
“Hindi po pupuwedeng magpabakuna muna ang hindi mga medical frontliners dahil kung susuway po tayo dito sa order of priority na ito, maaapektuhan po ‘yung ating future deliveries galing sa COVAX Facility,” he said in a briefing.
Earlier, a barangay chairman in Taytay, Rizal also tried to bump-off healthcare workers by insisting on being injected with the first batch of AstraZeneca doses allotted for the locality. Barangay San Juan chieftain Rasel Valera, however, was rejected by the vaccinators on duty.
The World Health Organization previously warned that the Philippines’ supply of doses from COVAX, a global initiative for equitable vaccine distribution, could be put at risk if the prioritization list is not followed.