The Philippine government is still looking for healthcare workers who will receive the COVID-19 jab, the Department of Health said today, as more non-frontliners skip the vaccine priority line.
“We can’t find them because many of our healthcare workers who are dealing with COVID are not affiliated in any of the institutions or facilities that we have right now. They are what you call freelancers or those working in private facilities,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.
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The Health Department is currently seeking the help of local government units in searching for these missing healthcare workers.
Vergeire’s admission comes after the government has asked several mayors to explain why they received the COVID-19 jab ahead of medical workers, senior citizens, and those with comorbidities. But it’s not just politicians who are cutting the line: actor Mark Anthony Fernandez got his jab in Parañaque City, where his mother used to work as a councilor.
The World Health Organization has warned the Philippine government that it should follow its prioritization list, or else the country will no longer receive donated vaccines from the COVAX facility. At present, the vaccines that the country has received aren’t enough to vaccinate the Philippines’ 1.8 million healthcare workers.
As of yesterday, the Philippines has recorded 693,048 COVID cases, with 580,062 recoveries and 13,095 deaths. The country recorded a record-high number of new cases yesterday at 8,773, and experts believe that it may reach 11,000 new cases each day.
