If the mayors were to decide, all workers in Pasig and Taguig are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination even if their residential address is in another part of the capital.
Mayors Vico Sotto of Pasig and Lino Cayetano of Taguig City gave the assurance on Friday in a media briefing hosted by the Department of Health (DOH).
“Yung mga taga Barangay Buting sa Pasig, sa Market Market yan nagmo-mall. At yung mga nakatira sa (Bonifacio Global City), nagtatrabaho din yung iba sa Ortigas,” Sotto said to illustrate the fluid cross-boundary travel within the metropolis.
The practically nonexistent borders between localities necessitate that LGUs cooperate so everyone is inoculated as soon as possible.
“NCR po is one ecosystem…Until everyone is safe, no one is safe,” Cayetano said.
The DOH has yet to issue final guidelines on how to inoculate the A4 category, which are classified as economic frontliners. Nevetheless, Cayetano is lobbying that LGUs be allowed to vaccinate even residents from another one of the NCR’s 17 cities and municipalities.
Malacanang recently announced another two weeks of Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) over the capital among other places.
Despite the MECQ status, though, government is now allowing the operation of salons and barbershops and indoor dining for restaurants. This means that some or most if not all workers from these sectors displaced during MECQ would return to work.
Trade department data indicate that some 400,000 people are employed in the personal care services while another 100,000 individuals work for restaurants with indoor dining. These workers will add to the multitude already commuting from their homes to their place of work.
The inoculation of a wider section of the adult Filipino population is getting more attention now that over 1.5 million health workers, senior citizens, and adults with comorbidities have received either their first of both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“And then sa August po, we are targeting na pagka dumagsa na po ang ating mga vaccine, puwede na po tayong magkaroon po ng target ng population ng general public na po. Vaccination na po tayo by August kasi mayroon na po tayong eksaktong mga bakuna,” Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said in a report to President Duterte Wednesday night.
The target is to vaccinate 2 to 3 million every week when the vaccine inventory is sufficient. The government expects the bulk of vaccine deliveries by June as supplies from Moderna, Sinovac, Gamaleya, AstraZeneca, and from the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility come in.
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