Vice President Leni Robredo wants the prioritization of the vaccination of workers below 60 years old and who have co-morbidities but cannot work from their homes.
Speaking on her Sunday radio show, Robredo pointed out that public transportation drivers, market vendors, and drugstore personnel are vulnerable to contracting and transmitting the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
“Suggestion ko lang. Sana may sub-group ‘yung less than 60 na may co-morbidity, unahin sana ‘yung walang (This is only my suggestion. There should hopefully be a sub-group for the less than 60 with co-morbidity who do not have the) capacity to work from home,” she said.
Right now, the government is inoculating senior citizens and people 18 to 59 years old with co-morbidities with COVID-19 vaccines.
Robredo, however, stressed that because there’s a lack of supply of vaccines, the government has to prioritize workers 18 to 59 years old with co-morbidities but have to work outside their homes.
While she was quick to clarify that those who work from home and have been inoculated with the vaccine are not at fault since they’re part of the A3 category (people with co-morbidities) in the prioritization list, she is urging the local government units (LGUs) to be “more proactive” in inviting people who need to work outside their homes.
“Sila rin talaga ‘yung sobra exposure (They have a greater exposure),” Robredo said.
The vice president herself will fall under the A3 category since she is hypertensive, but she refused to get the vaccine because she has more staff that go down to communities.
“Di ako kasing babad kesa sa ibang staff namin. Drivers namin sila ang nagde-deliver ng mga binibigay namin. Sila nagpapakain sa communities. Sila yung mas vulnerable (I am not as exposed compared to our other staff. Our drivers deliver what we distribute. They’re the ones who do feeding programs in communities. They are more vulnerable),” she explained.
“Hindi naman kasalanan ng iba pero sana ‘yung mga nagbibigay ng vaccine, sana magkaroon ng proactive na pag-aya dun sa mga tao na ‘di kaya mag-work from home dahil yung mga trabaho nila wala talaga sa bahay (Others are not at fault, but those who are distributing the vaccine, they should be more proactive in urging the people who cannot work from home since their jobs are not really at home),” Robredo added.
Reports reached her that there’s also a poor turnout of online registration for the vaccines.
While she did not claim to know the real reasons behind the low turnout, Robredo said she can only surmise two things: the first one is that people do not know how to register to get the vaccine and the second one is there is still mistrust in getting inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine.
As for the mistrust in getting vaccinated, Robredo said the Office of the Vice President (OVP) will soon release information materials on the benefits of the vaccines.
The lady official called on the government to strengthen its communication methods about enjoining Filipinos to get vaccinated.
“Yung communication mahalaga. Mataas na ang mistrust sa vaccine. Kung hindi pa maayos ang communication, lalo madadagdagan ang natatakot. Paano ba communicate sa tao na dapat di sila matakot sa bakuna? (Communication is important. There’s a high mistrust in the vaccine. If the communication is not clear, the fears will increase. How can we communicate to the people that they should not be afraid of the vaccine?),” she stressed.
Robredo added that when the communication methods are unclear, more people will be apprehensive of getting themselves inoculated.Attachments area