(Infographic courtesy of Sorsogon Provincial Information Office)
LEGAZPI CITY – Sorsogon Gov. Francis Escudero on Thursday called on health authorities to be transparent and fair in the allocation and distribution of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines nationwide.
In a statement posted on his Twitter account, Escudero said “transparency, accountability and fairness” should be the government’s guiding principles in its vaccination program.
“Governance is all about allocating scarce resources. Given that vaccines are a scarce resource, its just allocation is a matter of good governance where transparency, accountability, and fairness should be the guiding principles,” the former senator said.
Escudero said a fair and equitable distribution of vaccines will help the country achieve population protection and bodes well for the easing of travel restrictions and movement of goods within the Philippines.
“We should achieve herd immunity together so that travel within the country will no longer be restricted, as well as the free flow of goods and services in order to revive our fledgling economy,” he said. “’Di ba nga (Isn't it that) ‘we heal as one,’ and not ‘us first before you or you first before us.’”
Earlier, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19, apologized as several cities in Metro Manila halted their vaccination programs as supply from the national government ran out.
He said the government is now targeting to increase the number of fully vaccinated individuals to five up to seven million this month to boost the population's protection against coronavirus.
Last week, Escudero asked the Department of Health-Region 5 to explain why the majority of the 36,800 vials of vaccine that arrived in Bicol would be distributed only to Albay province and the cities of Legazpi and Naga, leaving out other areas of the region. (PNA)
