Vice President Leni Robredo said she is willing to be among the first people to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 vaccine.
This is to allay the fears of the Filipinos for their safety against such vaccines.
Robredo made the statement after being asked in her weekly radio program whether she favors the proposal first to vaccinate COVID-19 to the country’s top officials to increase the people’s trust and confidence in it.
The vice president said that if the goal is to increase the people’s confidence in the vaccine, it is okay.
Robredo added that he had done this before in 2014, when he was just a representative of Camarines Sur, to encourage fellow Bicolanos to drink water from the filtering system developed by the University of the Philippines.
However, Robredo expressed her belief that health workers should be prioritized once the vaccine is available in the country.
She also urged the government to start listing the names of priorities to be vaccinated first.
On Monday, Malacañang has already made public the specific number of people who will be given COVID-19 vaccines, divided depending on the sector they belong to.
Also read: COVID-19 vaccination may start Q1 of 2021 – Duque
Robredo ready to get vaccinated first vs. COVID-19
There are two different types of priorities regarding immunization: geographical and sectoral priorities, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque clarified.
Here are the top 5 priority sectors and the number of populations it will provide per group:
- 1st priority- Frontline health workers (1,762,994)
- 2nd priority- Indigent senior citizens (3,789,874)
- 3rd priority- Remaining senior citizens (5,678,544)
- 4th priority- Remaining indigent population (12,911,193)
- 5th priority- Uniformed personnel (525, 523)
“Ang una sa listahan po ay ang ating mga frontline health workers. Obviously po, kinakailangan bigyan na sila ng bakuna nang magampanan nila ang kanilang katungkulan nang walang pag-aatubili,” Roque said.
“Sila ang nangunguna sa ating laban sa COVID-19, natural lamang na sila ang mabigyan natin ng proteksyon laban sa virus.”
According to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, only 66% of Filipinos are willing to be vaccinated against the deadly virus once the COVID-19 vaccines arrive in the country.