Robredo urges WHO to 'step in', resolve vaccine brand issues
The World Health Organization (WHO) should “step in” and resolve the problems caused by some countries’ preference for certain coronavirus vaccines, Vice President Leni Robredo said on Sunday, May 30.
Without naming the vaccine brand, the vice president also stressed the importance for the government to understand where the hesitancy is coming from with regards to getting inoculated with a certain COVID-19 vaccine brand.
“Dapat magstep-in iyong WHO na una, either sabihin niya huwag munang i-distribute kung merong problema or sabihan niya ‘yung mga bansa na dapat walang diskriminasyon (The WHO should step in and first, either tell us not to distribute if there is a problem or say that countries should not discriminate),” Robredo said during her Sunday radio show.
“Syempre, iyong mga bansa naman karapatan naman nila iyon, ‘di ba. Kasi bahagi iyon ng proteksyon ng kanilang mamamayan (Of course, it is within the rights of the countries. Because that is part of their protection to their citizens),” she added.
Robredo was referring to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), which earlier released a new set of quarantine rules for incoming foreign workers.
Foreign workers arriving in KSA should quarantine in their ports of entry between seven and 10 days before they can proceed to their employments.
But these rules are only for those inoculated with a COVID-19 vaccine not authorized by Saudi Arabia. The only COVID-19 vaccines approved by the KSA are those with an emergency validation from WHO—Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Johnson&Johnson.
Since the Philippines has primarily rolled out China’s Sinovac to its citizens, many of the OFWs are not allowed to enter the kingdom unless they have booked a quarantine facility. But comments on social media said hotel rooms are expensive in Saudi Arabia and thus, they cannot afford to quarantine once they arrive there.
At least 450 OFWs headed to KSA were reportedly stranded on Friday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) after a temporary travel ban on them was imposed by Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), which it later lifted.
The vice president admitted this is a big blow to the already low vaccine confidence in the country, urging the government not to turn the issue into a propaganda.
“Hindi naman ito pwedeng daanin sa propaganda na sasabihin sinisiraan kasi ng oposisyon. Iyon ang narrative nila ngayon (They cannot turn this into a propaganda because they are saying the opposition is mudslinging the vaccine. That’s their narrative today),” she said, citing that her office is doing what it can to address vaccine brand hesitancy in the country.
Instead of blaming the opposition, the government should instead understand why there are apprehensions about a vaccine brand. This will allow them to make a campaign that will specifically answer the public’s questions.
But Robredo noted that importance of getting inoculated with no matter what brand of COVID-19 vaccine. Although the efficacy rates matter, all vaccine brands will prevent severe symptoms, hospitalization, and deaths.
This is what the government should stress in their campaigns, and not the opposition’s stand on the brand, Robredo pointed out.
“Kasi kapag hindi mo harapin iyong bakit, hindi makakatulong para maappease iyong tao (Because if you don’t face the reason, that will not help to appease the people),” she said.