Life will be hard for individuals who continuously refused to be vaccinated following the decision of Metro Manila mayors to restrict their movement under Alert Level 3, an official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said on Tuesday, Jan. 4.
DILG Undersecretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya emphasized said the decision is driven by report that 80 to 85 percent of the COVID patients confined in the intensive care units (ICUs) are unvaccinated.
“So yung mga unvaccinated (against COVID-19) na ito sila ngayon ang nagkakalat ng sakit na ito. Sila ngayon yung pumupuno sa mga ospital natin (So these unvaccinated individuals are now spreading this disease. They are now the ones putting our hospitals to full capacity),’’ Malaya noted.
Instead of making life miserable for the “cooperative and law-abiding citizens’’ Malaya explained that the thought process is to punish the unvaccinated by restricting their movement and limiting their access to services except those that are essential like pharmacies and groceries.
“All other things hindi po sila (unvaccinated) papayagan (access to other services) (they will not be allowed),’’ he added during an interview with ABS-CBN.
With the worldwide COVID-19 surge reaching alarming levels, Malaya stated that the practice of restricting movement of the unvaccinated is not only common in the Philippines but is now enforced in other countries including in Europe.
For the unvaccinated workers, Malaya admitted that they cannot be fired as there is no law that would allow it. But he said they are required to present a negative RT-PCR test every two weeks at their own expense, a ploy meant to increase the country’s vaccination rate in the midst of the COVID-19 surge.
Admitting that the concept is to make it hard for the unvaccinated workers, Malaya added “kasi hindi mo (workers) ginagawa and moral at ethical responsibility mo sa bansa (because you are not performing your moral and ethical responsibility to the country.’’
“So magpabakuna na kasi libre naman yung bakuna so bakit natin pahihirapan ang ating mga kababayan (get vaccinated, the vaccine is free so why will let our countrymen suffer),’’ Malaya maintained.
Citing it to be “a whole society approach’’, Malaya explained that the business owners, traders and company presidents will now be tasked to impose the health protocol regulations to their unvaccinated workers since the government lacks the personnel much like in the management of the quarantine facilities.
“Sila na ngayon ang magpapatupad nito (health protocols) at ang legal basis nila is the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) resolution,’’ he added.
In essence, Malaya explained that the business owners and officials are not prohibiting their unvaccinated workers to report to work but are required to present a negative RT-PCR test to prevent them from afflicting their co-employees with the virus.
In the same interview, Malaya scored the proposal of Dr. Tony Leachon, the government's former COVID-19 response adviser, of imposing a 21 day quarantine for the Filipinos arriving in the country.
“Kung minsan yung mga suggestions kung sansaan na nanggagaling ano (Sometimes these suggestions are senseless),’’ Malaya claimed.
Stressing the endless complaints on the 21 day quarantine, Malaya insisted that proposals should be reasonable “at hindi ano noh lamang hinugot sa hangin (and should not just be taken out of the blue).’’
With regards to the failure to reach the 2021 adult vaccination target, Malaya pointed out that typhoon Odette had hampered the process as a large part of the country particularly Regions 13 and 4-B were severely devastated by the category 4 or 5 weather disturbance.
Falling short of the goal of four million o inoculated individuals, Malaya lamented that this has nothing to do with the inept government vaccination system nor it was due to the limited COVID-19 vaccine supplies but was simply due to the devastating typhoon Odette. (Chito A. Chavez)