"A lawmaker wants to protect us from people who refuse to be vaccinated."
"A lawmaker wants to protect us from people who refuse to be vaccinated."
With a survey showing that only a little less than 20 percent of Filipinos would want to get the vaccine against COVID-19, Cavite Congressman Elpidio “Pidi” Barzaga, Jr. is pushing for the enactment of a law which would protect all vaccinated individuals against those who refuse to receive COVID-19 vaccines. He says this is pursuant to the general welfare clause of the Constitution.
The only problem is that this could be viewed as discriminatory.
However, Barzaga insists that under the General Welfare clause, “the State is mandated to make rules and regulations to protect the lives of the majority of its citizens. A person who is not vaccinated is a risk to the lives of others and to the general community.”
“The State can therefore enact a general law protecting those who are vaccinated from those who are not vaccinated. While others might argue that such law shall be discriminatory – discriminating those vaccinated against those non-vaccinated, nonetheless there shall be no violation of the constitutional rights to due process and equal protection clause. Every individual therefore to avoid adverse consequences must allow themselves to be vaccinated,” Barzaga explains.
Recently, a survey of the University of the Philippines-OCTA research team showed that only 19 percent are willing to be vaccinated, 46 percent are unwilling, and 35 percent are undecided.
Barzaga said that while the number of those who want to be vaccinated is increasing, the number will not be enough to protect the population for as long as there are people who will continue to refuse inoculation, as he stressed that while the Constitution guarantees the right to life of every individual, “such right is subservient to the paramount interest of the lives of the greater majority.”
Barzaga says Article II, Section 5 of the Constitution (Declaration of Principles and State Policies) clearly states: “The maintenance of peace and order, the protection of life, liberty, and property, and the promotion of the general welfare are essential for the enjoyment by all the people of the blessings of democracy,” adding that under the general welfare clause, it would be legal and constitutionally accepted for an employer to issue a policy that only vaccinated applicants can be employed.
To illustrate his point, Barzaga said malls can impose a regulation that only those vaccinated shall be permitted to enter while restaurants and hotels can accept only persons who have been vaccinated, or private parks can refuse entrance to those who are not vaccinated and even schools can impose a restriction that its enrollees must be fully vaccinated as a condition for enrollment.
“Even the right to travel shall be restricted,” said Barzaga, who is a CPA-lawyer by profession.
Barzaga argues that the State has no option but to protect those who are vaccinated, noting that the average direct medical cost is at least P400,00.00 for a four-day stay in the hospital by a patient suffering from mild symptoms of COVID-19.
Barzaga says that while protocols including restrictions on mobility, social distancing, mask-wearing and others are in place, those are not enough and vaccination remains an important key to stop this pandemic.
And while vaccination will protect an individual from getting COVID-19, we have to, “unfortunately, we have to live with the fact there are those who are hesitant to accept a COVID-19 vaccine."
“Little do we realize that getting vaccinated protects us and the people around us, particularly people who are at an increased risk for severe illness from Covid-19. We need to increase vaccine confidence and improve the public’s understanding of how it can help control the spread of COVID-19 in their families and communities,” Barzga says.
Rightfully said. Those who are against the vaccine can always claim that it is their body and they have the right to do what they believe is right for their body. But then, this is also about the lives of those who got the vaccines in the hope of protecting themselves against the dreaded virus, and enjoying the perks of going back to normalcy.
Discriminatory, they say? But what about our lives? The more these unvaccinated ones are allowed to mingle with those who were already inoculated, the more the threat of spreading the virus grows.
While those who have been vaccinated may have been already protected from the virus, that doesn’t mean they cannot become carriers, thus putting at risks members of their families who are not yet protected due to the lack of available vaccines manufactured for their sectors, including pregnant and lactating mothers and children below 15 years old. And they also greatly need protection.
Barzaga adds: “Covid-19 is real, and it has come closer to home. It has touched all of us, where every one of us has a parent, sibling, relative, friend, co-worker who has been infected by this deadly virus.”
