Nancy Binay: Address vaccine supply problem first before arresting those resisting vaccination

Senator Nancy Binay on Tuesday said the government must address the problem regarding the supply of COVID-19 vaccines first before arresting Filipinos who don’t want to get inoculated.

Binay reiterated that COVID-19 vaccination is not mandatory, emphasizing that this was one of the reasons why vaccine passports are not being implemented.

“Number two, I don’t think na ano [vaccine hesitancy] siya. Remember may problema tayo sa supply. It’s not as if ayaw ng mga kababayan natin magpabakuna,” she said in an interview on ANC.

(Number two, I don’t think that [vaccine hesitancy is a problem]. Remember, we have a problem in supply. It’s not as if our countrymen don’t want to get vaccinated.)

Binay cited reports of Manila residents camping outside vaccination sites to get COVID-19 vaccines.

“So at this point, I think vaccine hesitancy is not the problem. Vaccine supply is the biggest problem so we need to arrest that,” she pointed out.

Nevertheless, Binay said vaccine hesitancy is still a problem that needs to be addressed.

“At this point, nandiyan pa rin ‘yung vaccine hesitancy but for me 'yung urgent need right now is you need to have more supply of the vaccine,” she added.

(At this point, the vaccine hesitancy is there but for me, the need right now is you need to have more supply of vaccine.)

On Monday night, President Rodrigo Duterte warned the public that he will order the arrest of individuals who refuse to get vaccinated.

Duterte said he felt “exasperated” hearing reports of some persons not heeding the government call to get the shots of protection against COVID-19.

Earlier, Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III urged the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to review its resolutions, noting that there are certain policies which indirectly prompt Filipinos to get vaccinated.

Should the government want to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory, Pimentel said the matter should be subject to debate in Congress. 

The Department of Health on Monday said more than two million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

A total of 8,407,342 doses have been administered as of June 20, the DOH said.

Of this number, 6,253,400 shots were for the first dose while 2,153,942 were for the second dose.

The government’s target is to inoculate 58 million people in COVID-19 hotspots by November. —KG, GMA News