Police have filed cases against five people for spreading fake news through social media about the government's COVID-19 vaccination program, Malacanang said Monday.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the police have already identified the five but declined to name them, saying they will be located and brought to jail.
This developed as the government will target administering 1 million COVID-19 shots in a day, National Task Force Against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon said, in response to Vice President Leni Robredo's call to speed up the vaccination drive while Metro Manila is under lockdown.
“With all due respect to Vice President Leni, but in fact, let us wait for the vaccine cluster. We will target 1 million. That is our target, it is more than 750,000,” Dizon said.
Authorities on Thursday administered over 710,000 COVID-19 shots, the highest ever in a day since the immunization campaign started in March, noted Dizon, who is also the country's coronavirus testing czar.
Fake news on social media caused people to swarm vaccination sites in Manila, Las Pinas and Antipolo City on the mistaken belief that unvaccinated persons would not receive cash aid during the lockdown.
"To the peddlers of fake news, you will be found, you will face charges, and you will be sent to jail,” Roque said.
The government placed Metro Manila under ECQ—the strictest quarantine level —from Aug. 6 to 20 to prevent the spread of the more transmissible Delta coronavirus variant.
Roque said the government would give P1,000 per person to low-income residents regardless of if they are vaccinated or not.
Roque also dismissed suggestions that President Rodrigo Duterte’s remarks about keeping unvaccinated people at home were to blame for the rush to vaccination centers.
“The jostling happened on Thursday. If that was a reaction to what the President said, that should have happened on Tuesday or Wednesday, but that did not happen,” Roque said in Filipino.
Some of those who flocked to Thursday's vaccine queues said they feared being prohibited from going out or being disqualified from getting cash aid during Metro Manila's lockdown.
“The President's remark had no connection to that. Let us not put color in what the President said. There are really people who sabotaged the vaccination,” Roque said.
Officials last week said online disinformation prompted thousands of people to flock to vaccination centers, which were overwhelmed by their number.
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said taking booster shots for COVID-19 vaccines was against government policy.
Duque, chairman of the inter-agency task force against COVID-19, urged people with knowledge on this to come forward.
Duque said there is currently no recommendation from the country's vaccine expert panel or the all-experts group to have a supplementary inoculation.
In the case of San Juan City Rep. Ronaldo Zamora who has admitted to receiving four shots of COVID-19 vaccines, Duque said from his understanding, the congressman was advised to take a booster shot because of "serious comorbidities."
"We respect the decision of his physician," said Duque.
Zamora received two doses of the vaccine developed by Chinese state firm Sinopharm in December last year, months before the Philippines started its vaccination program in March.
Because he was "immunodeficient," the doctors told him he should get two booster shots from Pfizer-BioNTech, he said.
Duque maintained that all COVID-19 vaccines used in the Philippines are effective, no matter the brand.
"Our vaccines are all effective, whether they’re Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer or Janssen. They are all effective in preventing severe and critical COVID infections, preventing hospitalization and death," he said.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), meanwhile, reiterated that “no vaccine, no employment” policy is unlawful and said vaccination is not a requirement for work.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said employers can’t make vaccination against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) a condition or requirement for work.
Bello reiterated that “any employee who refuses or fails to be vaccinated shall not be discriminated against in terms of tenure, promotion, training, pay, and other benefits, among others, or terminated from employment.”
“Moreso, it is not legal for any employer to require a worker to be vaccinated for him or her to go to work. That has no legal basis. In fact, it is an illegal policy,” he added.
Bello issued the statement after he received complaints from workers who allegedly experienced discrimination after refusing or failing to be vaccinated.Also on Monday, Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda urged the NTF on COVID-19 and the National Vaccination Operation Center (NVOC) run by the DOH to prioritize the use of the single-dose Janssen COVID-19 vaccines on vulnerable groups.
“Vaccinating with the J&J vaccines is crucial. The two-dose vaccines offer up to 90 percent protection, but the first dose merely offers around 50 percent, so while you are not yet fully vaccinated with the second dose, vulnerable populations that have been jabbed with one dose are still 40 percent at risk of infection. That’s a possible future driver for high hospitalization rates,” Salceda said. “So, we have to prioritize vaccination that is enough with just one dose.”
The DOH said some 11,391,969 Filipinos have been fully vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines as of Monday, while 13,087,781 have received their first jabs.
From only 37,280 jabs during the first week of the vaccination program, the country is now doing 3,616,206 doses in the 23rd week, with the daily average of 516,601 shots during the last seven days.
Adults with comorbidities account for the greatest number of people vaccinated, with 4,244,272 already with full doses.