VACCINATION. President Rodrigo Duterte talks to the people after meeting with members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases at Malacañng on Monday (Feb. 8, 2021). Duterte appealed to the Communist Party of the Philippines to allow safe and unhampered transport of the Covid-19 vaccines. (Screengrab from PCOO/RTVM)
MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday appealed to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing the New People’s Army (NPA), to guarantee the unhampered and safe transport of the Covid-19 vaccines throughout the country.
“I am appealing to the Communist Party of the Philippines. The CPP must guarantee that the vaccines in the course of being transported to areas where there are no city health officers or medical persons, na ‘wag ninyo galawin ang medisina (don’t touch the medicine), allow the vaccines to be transported freely and safely,” Duterte said in his pre-recorded talk to the people after meeting with officials of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) in Malacañang.
Duterte also asked the CPP and NPA not to intercept the vaccines and to observe the rules of humanity “because that (vaccine) is for the Filipino people.”
“As I have said, the money belongs to the Filipino people. The credit goes to no one. Sa inyo ito mga taong Filipino (This is for the Filipino people),” he said. “So natural lang na kayong mga (So it is natural that you) members ng CPP and the allied, NPA, NDF [National Democratic Front) or whatever, kindly observe the rules of humanity.”
In his virtual presser on Monday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the Philippines is 100 percent ready for the Covid-19 vaccination drive that is expected to start on Feb. 15.
"Ang sabi po ng COVAX Facility sa kanilang liham (What the COVAX Facility told us in its letter is that), it will be made available, it will come to us by mid February. Kaya nga po ang sinasabi ko, handang-handa na po tayo by mid February or February 15 (That's why I'm saying we are definitely prepared for [the vaccination drive] by mid-February or February 15)," Roque said.
In the same meeting, National Policy Against Covid-19 and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said the military and the police will help in securing the delivery of the vaccines.
Galvez earlier said the 117,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines produced by Pfizer pharmaceutical company will be the first to arrive and these will be delivered in one tranche.
It would be followed by the arrival of around 5,500,000 to 9,290,400 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines to be delivered on the first and second quarter of this year, he added.
Duterte said if there is no suitable venue for the inoculation, he will order the utilization of public school buildings while face-to-face classes remain prohibited amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Pero kung kulang talaga, my order is to utilize public school buildings. If there is no malaking coliseum or gym, then we will utilize the schools,” Duterte said.
Galvez said many LGUs particular in Metro Manila have already conducted simulation of the vaccination drive. (PNA)
