“Hindi po joke ang priority list ng vaccine rollout. Seryosohin po natin ito.”
This according to Quezon City 6th District Councilor Bobby Castelo, who on Thursday raised his eyebrows on talks about foreigners in the Philippines to be given free vaccines.
“We are a country of more than a hundred million Filipinos. The first batch of vaccines that will arrive will just be a little over a hundred thousand doses.”
“We are a country of more than a hundred million Filipinos. The first batch of vaccines that will arrive will just be a little over a hundred thousand doses. Let us not even talk about allocating vaccines for foreigners. Pilipino muna. Tayo una,” lamented Castelo, who is serving his third and last term as Councilor.
Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire recently mentioned vaccinating foreigners in the country would also be beneficial to Filipinos, although their inclusion in the list of beneficiaries for inoculation is still up for discussion.
“Kapag tiningnan natin sa isang rational point of view, since they are here and since they also interact with Filipino people, baka dapat kasama,” said Vergeire, referring to foreigners.
The government earlier released the list of priority populations for the Covid-19 vaccination program, which includes frontline health workers, senior citizens, persons with comorbidities, frontline personnel in essential sectors, indigent population, teachers and social workers, other government and essential workers, high-risk socio-demographic groups, overseas Filipino workers, other remaining workforce, and the rest of the Filipino population.
“While we need to take care of everybody, we take care of ourselves first.”
“While we need to take care of everybody, we take care of ourselves first. Filipino first, according to the priority list. Foreigners last, included in the rest of the population who are not in the priority list,” concluded Castelo.