The government is set to release guidelines for the vaccination of family members of healthcare workers, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Saturday, May 29.
“Itong mga kamag-anak ng healthcare workers kailangan pa po natin makapag release ng guidelines para magkaroon po tayo ng pamantayan (For the relatives of healthcare workers, we still need to release guidelines so that we can have a certain standard),” said DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
“Kailangan lang po siguro nuclear family muna ang uunahin natin dahil nga alam naman natin that this will also depend on the number of doses that we have right now (Maybe we need to prioritize first their nuclear family because we know that this will also depend on the number of doses that we have right now),” she added.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque announced on Thursday that the “immediate family” of medical frontliners will be included in the A1 priority sector of the COVID-19 vaccination program "once vaccine supply becomes available."
The A1 priority group was previously dedicated for the country’s healthcare workers only.
Vergeire said that this policy is in accordance with the earlier appeal of the country’s healthcare workers.
“Ang kanilang sinasabi sa atin: nabakunahan nga sila pero pag umuwi naman sila sa kanilang mga kabahayan ay yung kanilang mga kasama sa bahay ay hindi bakunado. So, nandun pa rin yung risk na pwede silang mahawa at pwede nilang mahawa yung kanilang mga kamag anak (What they told us is that they may have been vaccinated already but when they go home, their family members are still unvaccinated. So, there is still a risk that they can be infected and they can infect their relatives),” she said.
Meanwhile, Vergeire said that they will also coordinate with the Department of Labor and Employment as overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who are scheduled for deployment within the next four months are also now under the A1 priority group.
“Itong sa OFWs ang binigay na protocol ng IATF (Interagency Task Force) dapat yung mga paalis na within four months from this period. So ating ikakalap iyan, kukunin natin sa Department of Labor and Employment ilan ba ang OFWs na nakikita nating paalis na within this four months (Based on the protocol of IATF, this only include OFWs who are set for deployment within four months. So we will be coordinating with the Department of Labor and Employment how many are those OFWs),” said Vergeire.
Related story: COVID-19 vaccine A4 priority group simplified; more placed in A1 cluster