Roque on deploying Pinoy health workers for COVID-19 vaccines: Why not?

The Palace welcomed the proposal of Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III to deploy Filipino health workers in Germany and the United Kingdom in exchange of 600,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.

Roque said that while the government has ordered enough COVID-19 vaccines for the country’s 70 million adult population, it would not hurt to have additional doses.

“Wala pong inconsistencies sa mga sinabi ni Secretary Bello at [DFA] Secretary [Teddyboy] Locsin at sa sinabi ko. Nag-order po tayo ng sapat, sobra sobra pa, 90 million, sinobrahan pa nga natin. Pero siyempre kung mas maraming supply ang makukuha natin, bakit hindi?” Roque said during the Palace briefing.

“This is an idea of Secretary Bello. Wine-welcome natin ito because more is better than less,” he added.

The UK was quick to reject Bello’s proposal, with Ambassador Daniel Pruce saying that the British government is not amenable to such an arrangement.

“I’d say we’ve got no plans to link vaccines with those conversations around the recruitment of nurses,” Pruce said in a virtual chat with reporters.

The UK, Price said, prefers to assist developing nation’s access to COVID-19 vaccines through the World Health Organization’s COVAX facility.—AOL, GMA News