We need fast, safe, and full vaccine deployment!
January 14, 2021CitizenWatch Philippines, Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations and Health Justice
Philippine Health Advocates: We need fast, safe, and full vaccine deployment!
The COVID-19 virus continues to spread endangering the lives of Filipinos and has plunged our economy into deep recession affecting millions of households in the country. At this point, it is clear that the only permanent solution and path to full recovery is to achieve herd immunity through a fast, safe, and effective vaccination program.
Vaccines are now being deployed in other countries, such as China, India, Israel, Europe, the United Kingdom, and the US. While vaccine procurement plans differ from country to country, it is important to ensure full transparency about these vaccine negotiations and most importantly – the vaccine prioritization plan.
Here in the Philippines, our government has announced that they are in the advance stages of negotiations with pharmaceutical companies, but as of this moment, no vaccine has been approved. And yet, there were media reports of some members of the Armed Forces being administered with a vaccine that has not been given approval by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
As announced by the Department of Health, our country’s present vaccine roadmap has a timeline of four years (2021-2024). We find this timeline too long and should be accelerated as our people cannot afford to have four more years of this health and economic crisis.
As advocates for the health of Filipino citizens, we call on the government to accelerate the nationwide deployment of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines duly approved by the FDA. We also call for a fair and equitable prioritization plan where the rich and powerful do not get early access to the vaccines because of their socio-economic status. Most countries agree that frontline health workers and the elderly need to be prioritized but we note with concern that persons with co-morbidities have not been called out specifically. We know that the burden of NCDs is high in our country and not including people with co-morbidities might result in unfavorable outcomes for this vulnerable population.
We strongly support the aggressive initiative of the private sector and selected Local Government Units (LGUs), as these efforts will definitely shorten the needed timeline to roll-out the vaccines. We urge the government to partner with the private sector which has continuously shown initiative in testing, tracing, treating, and other anti-COVID efforts. It is only with a whole-of-society strategy that herd immunity will be attained at the shortest possible time.
Also crucial is an extensive information campaign to address the dangerous misconceptions that are causing fears of vaccines to the public. This baseless perception can potentially delay the deployment of vaccines and cause more infections and deaths and derail our country’s economic recovery.
We call on the government to prioritize the vaccine roll-out in the regions which have the highest infection rates and are also the most productive economic drivers in the country. According to the Department of Health, as of January 9, 2021, the top regions with coronavirus active and new cases are the National Capital Region, CALABARZON (Region IV-A), Central Luzon (Region III) and the Davao Region (Region IX).
Lastly, we call on the government to put patients at the center of the vaccination program by including the community voice and feedback to test ideas and improve the program. Participation of patient groups will ensure a broader and more constructive stakeholder consultation. More than ever, we need a whole of society and whole of community approach to tackle this pandemic.
Vaccines have been the proven weapon against the deadliest afflictions in human history. Let us focus our resources and energies in acquiring and wielding this weapon so that we can begin a new era of healthy and sustainable prosperity.