Sorsogon Governor Francis "Chiz" Escudero lamented on Wednesday, July 21, the slow vaccine rollout in his province, which he attributed to the national government's policy of prioritizing cities in Metro Manila and other high-risk areas of the Philippines.
"Mabagal ang dating ng bakuna sa aming lalawigan (The delivery of coronavirus vaccines to out provinces has been slow)," Escudero said in the online Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.
The former senator, in his Twitter account, has been asking the Department of Health (DOH) and the government's pandemic task force (IATF) for an equitable and efficient distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across the country.
He said the vaccine allocation should be based on the ratio and proportion of population, and not on the number of coronavirus cases in an area.
Escudero said that so far, some 23,000 Sorsogon residents have been vaccinated against COVID-19, only 5,000 of which received their second dose.
He said they expect the arrival of some 30,000 doses of vaccines on Thursday, July 22, which would increase the rate of the vaccinated resident to seven percent of the province's total population.
"Para sabay-sabay na magkaroon ng herd immunity ang kada probinsya. Dahil kung hindi -- kung may uunahin sila -- may herd immunity nga 'yong isang lugar, wala naman herd immunity yong katabing lugar (So that all provinces will have herd immunity. Because if not -- if they will prioritize areas -- one area will be immune while the adjacent area won't)," the governor said.
"Balewala po 'yon, restricted pa rin ang byahe, apektado pa rin ang normal na pamumuhay natin (It's ineffective, travel is still restricted, and our normal way of living is still affected)," he added.
Escudero also hit the differing policies of the DOH for each province. For instance, he said vaccinations in Sorsogon only cover those under the priority groups A1, A2, A3, while other areas were allowed to inject vaccines on those under the A4 and A5 groups.
"Sa NCR kahit sinong magwalk-in, tinuturukan (In the National Capital Region, they even allow and inject vaccine on walk-ins)," he noted. "Hindi ko maunawaan kung bakit ganoon ang kautusan ng DOH at IATF (I don't understand this policy of the DOH and IATF)."
"Sabi po, 'We heal as one', dapat sabay-sabay tayong magkaroon ng herd immunity. Walang mauuna, walang mahuhuli para mas mabilis bumalik sa normal ang pamumuhay dito sa ating bansa (They say 'We heal as one', so we should all achieve herd immunity at the same time. No one will be first, no one will be last, so that our country can finally return to normal)," Escudero appealed.