Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said local governments have the power to pass ordinances that would make vaccination against COVID-19 mandatory.
“If they think that the policy of mandatory vaccination is okay for their constituents, then they may do so,” Duque said in Filipino in an online briefing Tuesday. “That’s within their power, while we have no national law on mandatory vaccination.”
Responding to Duque’s statement, the president of the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP), Marinduque Gov. Presbitero Velasco Jr., said they are open to issuing such ordinances.
In an interview on radio dzBB, Velasco said the Local Government Code includes a general welfare clause that allows local government units (LGUs) to pass ordinances for the welfare of their constituents.
Still, Velasco cautioned LGUs to be careful about passing such ordinances as they will affect the lives of people and may be questioned in court.
Duque, meanwhile, said there are other ways to encourage the public to get vaccinated, such as giving incentives and launching information drives.
“As much as possible, we don’t want to force people [to get vaccinated],” he said.
Earlier, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) had earlier pushed for the vaccination of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries before they get their subsidy.
National Task Force against COVID-19 chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. urged local executives to focus on carrying out the directive of President Duterte to scale up their vaccination throughput.
“We cannot slow down our vaccination, we are pushing you to vaccinate because we are racing against time,” Galvez said.
“We are appealing [to you to show a]… sense of urgency. We are in the midst of a pandemic. We need to move faster. We are fighting an unseen enemy and there is some sort of cycle that after two months the cases will rise again,” he added.
World Health Organization (WHO) country representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe also appealed to local government units to ramp up their vaccination program.
“We are committed again in ensuring the fast rollout of vaccines to every LGU and we urge the LGUs to roll out the vaccines as efficiently as possible so that more Filipinos are fully protected,” Abeyasinghe said.
The government aims to administer about 10 million to 15 million vaccine doses during the upcoming National Vaccination Days from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1, coinciding with Nov. 30, Bonifacio Day.
The three-day event is part of the national government’s aggressive efforts to achieve population protection by December.
Galvez also said he is pushing for the mandatory vaccination of more than 4 million beneficiaries of the government’s 4Ps.
Rather than punishing the poor, they would be offering incentives to the beneficiaries, he said, noting that once they are vaccinated, they will be entitled to receive their financial assistance.
The proposal, however, has come under heavy criticism from Congress and has been questioned by some government departments, such as the Department of Justice and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which administers the 4Ps.
But Galvez said mandatory vaccination would spare the 4Ps beneficiaries from the high cost of COVID-19 treatment.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año supported the proposal, saying that only 12 percent of the 4.4 million 4Ps beneficiaries have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
“We consider them as a vulnerable sector because they don’t have enough money if they get sick and go to the hospital,” he said in Filipino. “To avoid that, they must be protected through the vaccine.”
Both officials said they are leaving it to the Department of Justice to study the legalities involved in requiring the mandatory vaccination for 4Ps beneficiaries.
On Wednesday, a shipment of three million Sinovac doses from Beijing arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The Philippines also received on Tuesday the second batch AstraZeneca vaccines through the COVAX facility.
A total of 793,900 AstraZeneca doses arrived at the NAIA Terminal 3, which completes the 1.6 million doses donated by the German government.
President Rodrigo Duterte urged the public to participate in the three-day national mass immunization campaign later this month.
“We are planning to conduct a three-day national vaccination drive from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 coinciding with our Nov. 30 commemoration of Bonifacio Day,” Duterte said.
“With this, we want to convey the message that every Filipino who will get vaccinated…[is a hero],” he said.
The government aims to completely immunize more than 50 million Filipinos before the year ends.
Almost 30 million individuals are now fully vaccinated and more than 35 million have at least one dose, the President reported.
He also expressed elation on the implementation of the vaccination campaign that covers children aged 12 to 17, saying this will not only protect millions of Filipino children but also help convince their parents and grandparents to get COVID-19 shot.
“May I repeat that we cannot lose our focus especially now that cases are down. And this is a further reason to speed up vaccination to prevent another surge,” he said.