A fisherfolk group on Tuesday called on the government to give “free and massive” vaccination to citizens, saying it is the “long-term solution” to address the coronavirus pandemic.

Pamalakaya chair Fernando Hicap said that a significant number of workers should be vaccinated as soon as the  COVID-19 vaccines are available.

“It is now the national government’s crucial and urgent responsibility to ensure that a large number of the population are immunized from the virus,” he said.

This will allow the affected workers to “get back to the wheels of production and go on with lives,” he added

Under the government’s free vaccination plan, frontline health workers, senior citizens, indigents, and uniformed personnel will be the first to get inoculated against the virus. 

The government is eyeing to purchase a total of 100 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for 2021, with the first batch scheduled to arrive next month. With this, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) expects the “roll-out of free COVID-19 mass vaccination for Filipinos, with the assurance of the safety, efficacy, and accesibility of the vaccine.”

The farmers’ group also noted the free vaccines should also reach rural and far-flung areas that are also at risk of COVID-19 and the priority list for vaccination must be strictly followed.

“We don’t want the vaccination program to become a tool for political patronage and ‘kickvaccs’ (kickback) or corruption,” KMP chair Danilo Ramos said in a separate statement.

Pamalakaya asserted that the funds allocated under the approved P4.5-trillion budget for 2021 are far from enough to immunize 60 percent of the country’s population.

Only P2.5 billion is set aside in the 2021 national budget to procure the COVID-19 vaccines.