Navotas City residents who will not show up for their COVID-19 vaccination appointments will now be "last-listed."
According to Mayor Toby Tiangco, residents who will be "last-listed" will only be able to receive a jab once the city's entire qualified population has already been vaccinated.
Tiangco, on Wednesday, said he made the move after noticing that a significant number of his constituents booking their vaccination appointments end up not appearing on their chosen schedule. Initially, they should be "blacklisted," he said, but decided to just "last-list" them.
"Na-notice ko noong Monday, out of 3,000 na nag-schedule online, may 500 na 'di dumating, so 17 percent hindi dumating (I noticed that on Monday, out of 3,000 who got appointments, 500 or the 17 percent of them did not show up)," Tiangco said in a CNN interview.
Tiangco said the local government is not imposing on its residents the time and venue to get vaccinated as they are the ones that chose them.
"When we open the schedules, we open it one to two days before... Sila mamimili ng petsa, sila mamimili ng oras, sila mamimili ng venue, one to two days before the actual vaccination, so mahirap naman paniwalaan na 'di nila sisiputin (They're the ones choosing their time and venue one to two days before their actual vaccination. So it's hard to believe they will miss it)," he said.
Tiangco said this is "unfair" as residents who are ready to get vaccinated cannot do so because they cannot get a slot.
"Doon sa hindi nila pagsipot, 'di kami nakapagbakuna ng 500 other constituents na gusto magpabakuna on that day, kasi may limit lang (Because of their absence, we cannot inoculate 500 other constituents who want to be vaccinated because we only have limited slots)," he said.