By now, the Duterte government should have already moved on from asking the public to wear masks because the more pressing issue is the rollout of the coronavirus vaccines, Vice President Leni Robredo’s spokesman said on Tuesday, March 16.

“Eh parang ngayon, vaccine na dapat ang pinamimigay. Dapat nagmove on na tayo diyan sa usapin ng contact tracing at pagbibigay ng mga masks. Given na dapat iyan, eh (Right now, vaccines are the ones that should be distributed. We should move on from contact tracing and giving away masks. That’s already a given),” lawyer Barry Gutierrez said in an interview over Bombo Radyo Iloilo.

Robredo’s team is in Iloilo province to oversee the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) community-based projects there.

Gutierrez appealed to the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to focus on procuring and distributing COVID-19 vaccines.

“Sana naman ano, mas alisto tayo dito sa mga kailangang gawin para hindi tayo nahuhuli. Nakakalungkot lang kasi kapag nakita mo iyong ibang bansa, tuloy-tuloy na ang vaccine rollout, tayo medyo mabagal (We hope that we can be more alert with what we have to do so we’re not lagging behind. It is sad when you see other countries with their vaccine rollout while we’re behind),” he said.

But Gutierrez added that they remain hopeful that the country can progress even amid the rising cases of COVID-19 again.

Meanwhile, the spokesman said that Robredo has always been willing to get inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine if this will boost public confidence on getting vaccinated.

However, she also respects the decision of the IATF to prioritize certain groups before public officials. They said priority will be given to the inoculation of health care workers, seniors, people with co-morbidities, and uniformed personnel.

Gutierrez laughed at an earlier fake internet meme that pointed to the vice president getting her COVID-19 vaccine with her shirt’s sleeve down.

“Oo, fake pala, ‘di ba. Malinaw ang posisyon ni VP Leni na kung kailangan, willing siya—publicly—na magpabakuna. Pero kung sasabihan na naman siya na ‘hindi na kailangan, unahin natin iyong mga frontliners,‘ suportado rin niya iyon (Yes, it’s fake, right. VP Leni’s position is clear that if needed, she’s willing—publicly—to get vaccinated. But if they will tell her that ‘it’s not needed, we will prioritize the frontliners,’ she supports that, too),” he said.

The internet meme caused the OVP to clarify the fake news that she had the vaccine already. It turned out that the woman in question was a medical frontliner, and that her shirt was a “bakuna” shirt, which has slits in the arm area.

Gutierrez reiterated that Robredo remains grateful to medical frontliners, particularly the doctors, nurses, and health workers, who she sees as the heroes of the fight against COVID-19.

“At lahat ng suporta na maibibigay natin sa kanila, dapat talaga ibigay natin at pakinggan natin kung ano iyong kanilang mga mungkahi dito sa problemang ito dahil iyan ang tanging paraan na tayo ay makakaahon (All the support that we can give should be provided to them and we should listen to their suggestions in this problem because that’s the only way we can survive),” he said.