Public transportation will likely be allowed even under the upcoming enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila so that people can get vaccinated, a spokesman for the National Task Force against COVID-19 said Sunday.
In an interview with Dobol B TV, task force spokesman Restituto Padilla Jr. said the government aims to inoculate 250,000 people a day amid the strictest quarantine level from Aug. 6 to 20.
“There will likely be a less strict policy for the transportation sector because Secretary [Harry] Roque already said the vaccination will continue,” Padilla said in Filipino. “Even as we impose ECQ, there will be an increased ramp-up of the vaccination.”
No guidelines have yet been issued on transportation during the two-week period under ECQ beginning Aug. 6.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, meanwhile, said more police will be deployed to Metro Manila vaccination sites during the ECQ period to ensure order is maintained.
“We will send more police to vaccination sites, markets, supermarkets, and cash aid distribution centers,” Año said in Filipino in a separate interview with Dobol B TV.
Año said tighter border controls mean only cargo vessels and authorized personnel outside of residence (APOR) are allowed to pass Metro Manila borders.
He said checkpoints are in place for the cargo vessels that bring essential goods into Metro Manila.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar on Sunday placed the Medical Reserve Force (MRF) on standby to assist in the vaccination process during the reimplementation of the ECQ in Metro Manila.
Eleazar said the MRF is ready to help as additional manpower in the vaccination rollout after the Metro Manila Council expressed readiness to inoculate 250,000 individuals each day during the ECQ from Aug. 6 to 20.
“The PNP’s Medical Reserve Force will be on standby in case they will be tapped in the vaccination process during the two-week ECQ,” Eleazar said in a statement.
He directed the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) to prepare the deployment of additional cops and a contingency plan for the vaccination.
Also on Sunday, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian pressed for the vaccination of minors to prevent them from being “variant factories”—in reference to the more infectious Delta variant of COVID-19.
By the time we get enough supply we can already vaccinate teenagers.
And this is a very crucial stage in going back to face-to-face classes,” said Gatchalian, the chairman of the Senate committee on basic education, arts and culture.
Since schools are surrounded by economic activities such as the use of transportation and the operation of small businesses, Gatchalian added that vaccinating learners will provide an added layer of protection.
“The kids might not get infected as fast as science says, but their parents, the shopkeepers, the sari-sari store owners, they might be susceptible to the virus spread," Gatchalian said.