Senator Christopher “Bong” Go on Friday, March 5, expressed his support to suggestions to inoculate government officials in public in a bid to allay fears and boost public confidence on the safety and efficacy of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines.

Go, chairman of the Senate health and demography committee, however, emphasized that this should be done without prejudice to the priority list of the government’s national COVID-19 vaccination program which identified essential sectors as priorities, such as medical frontliners as well as poor and vulnerable sectors.

During the launch of the Malasakit Center in Rafael Lazatin Memorial Medical Center in Angeles City, Pampanga, Go was asked if he supports putting local officials in the priority list to get COVID-19 vaccine.

The senator responded favorably, saying, “Bakit hindi? Kumpiyansa po ang kinukuha natin dito. Eh, kung ibig sabihin nga nito, kung ang Mayor ninyo nagpabakuna nga, so ibig sabihin magtiwala kayo (Why not? We are securing public confidence. If your Mayor will be vaccinated, this will boost public confidence ).” If it would help allay the fears of the public on getting vaccinated, Go said that he would support such recommendation.

While getting vaccinated is voluntary, Go stressed its vital role in attaining herd immunity in the country.

“Wala naman po itong pilitan. Buhay po nila ‘yan. So boluntaryo naman po ito. Kami naman po rito sa gobyerno ay pinapaintindi namin sa kanila na tanging bakuna lamang po ang susi o solusyon dito sa ating problema kontra COVID-19 (Nobody will be forced to be vaccinated. That is their lives. This is voluntary. We in government, we just want the people to understand that the vaccine is the only key or solution to our problem against COVID-19),” Go said.

“Importante po dito ay ma-attain natin ‘yung herd immunity sa community. (It is important here that we attain the herd immunity in the community)," he stated.

‘Pag ‘yung komunidad ninyo ay na-attain na ‘yung herd immunity, maiiwasan na ang pagkalat... kakayanin na po ng ating anti-bodies dahil po sa bakuna na ituturok sa tao. (Once your community has attained that herd immunity... the spread of the disease will be prevented. We will have the anti-bodies due to the vaccine that was injected to us),” Go added.

Go and President Duterte witnessed the turnover ceremony for the AstraZeneca vaccines which arrived in the country at 7:30 pm last Thursday.

The AstraZeneca jabs, which will be the second batch of COVID-19 vaccines to arrive in the country, are from the World Health Organization-led Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility, a global initiative that guarantees access to COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.

The senator from Davao said during the interview that a plan has already been laid out identifying the strategic locations where the vaccines are going to be stored to ensure equitable access throughout the country.

‘’We will arm our frontliners, we will prioritize them because they are in the frontline in this battle against the COVID-19,” he stressed.