Imee Marcos slams exclusion of private-sector workers from priority vaccination

Senator Imee Marcos on Sunday slammed the alleged new requirement under the National Vaccine Deployment Plan which essentially excludes certain company employees from priority vaccination even as they provide essential products or services.

In a statement, Marcos flagged the new provision under the National Vaccine Deployment Plan (NVDP) which supposedly requires companies to issue a "Certificate of A4 Eligibility."

“Companies will now be required to issue a so-called Certificate of A4 Eligibility under recent guidelines in the National Vaccine Deployment Plan (NVDP), which will exclude certain employees from priority vaccination even if their company’s products or services are considered essential, such as food, pharmaceuticals, and transport,” she said.

According to Marcos, the term A4 refers to individuals who will get COVID-19 vaccines after healthcare workers, senior citizens, and people with co-morbidities.

The updated NVDP, she said, will have 13 sub-classes for A4 composed of frontline workers in the private sector and the government, overseas Filipino workers in similar jobs, and the new addition of religious leaders.

Marcos said the requirement to issue the Certificate of A4 Eligibility will only force private businesses to discriminate against their workers, and may only cause confusion, resentment, and disorder not only within companies but as well as in local government units (LGUs) which administer vaccines.

“We cannot look forward to reopening the economy if the DOH (Department of Health) keeps shutting the door. With so many new sub-classes in A4, the DOH should instead be giving incentives to private companies to vaccinate their rank and file, so that businesses can again run smoothly and recover swiftly,” she said.

“Nor should OFWs be turned away by LGUs if they cannot present the same certificate before taking the jab. The DOH does not even identify who will issue the certificates to them,” she added.

GMA News Online has sought comment from the DOH on the matter, but the Health Department has yet to respond.

The senator earlier revealed the supposed draft administrative order prohibiting private companies, especially those selling "sin products," to import COVID-19 vaccines for their employees.

President Rodrigo Duterte, nevertheless, allowed private firms to import COVID-19 vaccines "at will" amid the surge of cases in the country. — DVM, GMA News