DOH discussing possible mandatory vaccination for teachers — Duque

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Wednesday they are already looking at the possibility of mandating teachers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, amid the expansion phase of face-to-face classes and the de-escalation of 39 areas nationwide to Alert Level 1.

Asked in an ANC interview if the Department of Health (DOH) is looking at the possibility of mandating COVID-19 vaccination for teachers, Duque said, “Yes, pinaguusapan nga ‘yan [we are discussing it].”

“In fact in some of our IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) meetings, si Secretary Leonor Briones has been very, very front about it na malaking problema kung may mga teachers na anti-vaxxers, ayaw magpabakuna. ‘Yan naman ay tinitignan na natin [it is a big problem if there are teachers who refuse to get vaccinated. We are already looking into that],” he added.

He, however, indicated that more teachers now want to get themselves inoculated, noting that the vaccine hesitancy rate in the country has gone down to 8%.

“I think that’s a good indication or a sign that people already now increasingly believe in the protection that the vaccines provide and they can take advantage of this,” he added.

Mandatory

But at the Laging Handa briefing, Briones said it is mandatory for school personnel attending face-to-face classes in public institutions to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

“Mandatory para sa Department of Education na ‘yung mga teachers kailangan na vaccinated sila. ‘Yung hindi nagpapa-vaccine, kung pupunta sila sa schools para mag-submit ng report or etc., or their work at home, kailangan kagaya ngayon ‘pag pupunta ka sa government office, kailangan magpa-PCR ka o kung hindi sa Maynila, antigen, to be able to go to the premises,” she said.

[For DepEd, it is mandatory for teachers to be vaccinated. Those who are not vaccinated that need to go to school to submit reports or their work have to undergo RT-PCR or antigen tests so they could enter the school premises.]

For students, Briones said they are encouraged to be vaccinated but they would still defer to the decision of the parents.

“Mga bata, hindi [for kids, it is not] mandatory but we are encouraging them because the pilot study showed very clearly that they tend to have very high levels of resistance,” she added.

Expanded phase 

The resumption of face-to-face classes is now under its expanded phase. As of Monday, the DepEd said a total of 1,726 schools have started their limited face-to-face classes.

In the expansion phase, only vaccinated teachers may participate in the face-to-face classes, and vaccinated learners shall be “preferred” to participate.

With the de-escalation to Alert Level 1 in some areas, the DepEd is expecting that more schools will open limited in-person classes.

Duque further noted that as of February 28, there are about 736,000 kids aged five to 11 who received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines, while there are 9.2 million for aged 12 to 17.

“That’s 80%, more or less, of our target population of 11.4 million pediatric population of 12 to 17 years [old]. Pero ‘yung mababa pa rin natin ‘yung sa 5-11 [of which] we have total target population of 14 million, more or less, and doon sa coverage natin nasa [our vaccine coverage is at] 5.09%,” he said.

The Health chief added the struggle that the government needs to hurdle now is acquiring more vaccines for the five to 11 age group as there are only 12.5 million vaccines allotted so far for them.

“We’re hurrying it up because the demand is so great, but ang problema [but the problem] is the supply. Kaya kung titignan mo, mababa [that’s why the vaccine rate is low],” he said.

In November 2021, the Philippines started the COVID-19 vaccination for the 12 to 17 age group.

Meanwhile, the rollout of COVID-19 vaccination for 5 to 11 years old in the country started in February 2022. — RSJ, GMA News