The Quezon City health department refuted claims that police officers deliberately cut in line at a vaccination center Tuesday.
Dr. Esperanza Arias, head of the city's health department, said in a late night statement there was "no preferential treatment" given to the officers as there were separate lines for medical frontliners and other frontliners such as the police.
"It happened that the electronic registration system for the vaccination encountered problem that was why some police were stuck at the registration area," Arias said.
"In a bid not to block the way, we allowed them to get inside and gave them space for manual registration," she added.
The local government's clarification came after Bantay Bakuna (vaccine watchdog) claimed in its Facebook page early Tuesday that it received a report that "amid the long queue of health care workers who are in the A1 priority, some 30 personnel were seen cutting lines in the vaccination site in Emilio Aguinaldo Elementary School."
Arias also said the officers seen at the vaccination were part of the priority list to get the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine as they are "serving as contact tracers, swabbers, on-duty nurse deployed to quarantine facillities and are helping patients in isolation facilities and those living in special concer lockdown areas."
"They belong to A1 category of the priority list of the national government to get the vaccine,” she added.
The local government also said Mayor Joy Belmonte also coordinated with the city's People Law Enforcement Board that verified that the officers did not do anything wrong.