Beneficiaries refusing COVID-19 vax will be dropped from list —ULAP exec

Target vaccine beneficiaries who refuse  government's inoculation drive against COVID-19 will be excluded from priority list,  the chairperson of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) said on Sunday.

ULAP chairperson and Quirino Governor Dakila Cua told Super Radyo dzBB on Sunday that local governments are finalizing the priority list of target recipients.

“Kailangan natin malaman, ito bang si Mr. Juan Dela Cruz, gusto ba niyang magpabakuna o hindi. Priority nga siya, pero minsan ayaw naman niya,” he said.

“So, kailangan natin linisin pa 'yung mga listahan. At dyan, napakalaking trabaho pa,” he added.

Cua, who also chairs the League of Governors, said that the Department of the Interior and Local Government , and the Department of Health gave them some general guidelines.

“Pero yung specific, pinaplantsa pa natin,” he added.

According to Cua, vaccine priority recipients include frontliners, senior citizens, and the indigent.

On Tuesday, Cua said that the group of local government units will meet with the National Task Force Against COVID-19 to discuss logistics concerns of the vaccination program.

Meanwhile, DILG Undersecretary for Barangay Affairs Martin Diño said all barangay governments have prepared a priority list of residents who will be vaccinated.

“Sa barangay, uunahin natin, siyempre, magmula doon sa mga barangay tanod, barangay health worker, basta lahat ng nagtatrabaho dyan,” Diño said.

“Kasunod niyan mga senior citizen, pagkatapos kung ano na ang direktiba ng aming city at national (government),” he added.

Earlier, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said vaccination against COVID-19 in the country may start by February as some vaccines become available.

More or less 25,000 people are undergoing training to administer vaccines to Filipinos, he added.

The Philippine government aims to vaccinate some 50 to 70 million Filipinos against COVID-19 this year. —LBG, GMA News