Healthcare workers unions on Tuesday said the government should give Filipinos the best option in COVID-19 vaccination, and not second-rate vaccines.
The Nagkaisa Labor Coalition said the administration should use the taxpayers' money wisely.
"Why buy expensive and yet unproven vaccines when more effective and more affordable ones can be procured?" Union president Tiffany Ong of the Iloilo Mission Hospital Employees Union - Federation of Free Workers said in a statement.
"We should not look with derision the public's perception of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines and tagged that as 'colonial mentality or being choosy'" she added.
Union President Manuel Payao of the UERM Employees Union-FFW said while they would encourage employees to get vaccinated, he suggested that it should be done voluntarily as the vaccines still need more testing as regards the Filipino populace.
"We hold that it is imperative for government to provide free and authorized vaccines but, this early, employees should be given an option to be inoculated or not," he said.
"If they opt to be vaccinated, they should be given the choice what vaccine they are comfortable to accept," added Payao, who is also the Chairman of the Trade Federation 3 (Hospital, Medical and Healtworkers) of the FFW.