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Villar to gov't: Allow firms to choose who among employees will get COVID-19 vaccines first


Senator Cynthia Villar on Friday said the private companies in the country who had acquired COVID-19 vaccines through the tripartite agreement with the government and manufacturers should be given a free hand in choosing who among its employees would be inoculated first.

"Why will they buy if they cannot give it to their employees? Hindi mo naman pwedeng sabihin na tindera mo lang ang bibigyan mo, di mo bibigyan mga manager mo. Without the manager, who will manage the tinderas? This is impractical," Villar said during the Senate hearing on the government's COVID-19 immunization program.

The senator gave this remark after hearing from Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion that after the private sectors procure the vaccines, these will all go to the Department of Health.

In response, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. explained that such is the procedure, because it is the DOH that will facilitate the actual inoculation.

He added that the prioritization among essential and frontline workers to be vaccinated is being imposed pursuant to the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO).

"The imposition of the priority is not only imposed by us but by the WHO. At the same time, imposed by the manufacturer who follows the imposition of the WHO," Galvez said.

But Villar continued to emphasize that all employees of private firms must be given the chance to be vaccinated if their company bought supplies.

"In a company, you cannot just choose which one to vaccinate. Magagalit ang mga empleyado mo. Dapat pag bumili ka, para sa lahat ng empleyado," Villar said.

"Mauuna lang siguro 'yung naka-frontline but everybody will be vaccinated and you should be allowed to do that kasi ang binili mo enough for everybody," she added.

Senate President Vicente Sotto interjected to simplify the exchange between Villar and Galvez.

"You're allowed to do that. Sinasabi lang na unahin lang 'yung mga... kung wala kang health workers i-diretso mo na agad sa mga empleyado mo," Sotto said. -MDM, GMA News

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