“We commend local government units that have initially laid out concrete plans for localized vaccination. The national government must keep up and present a comprehensive national COVID-19 vaccination program for Filipinos. Along with this, a science-based, massive information drive on the importance of vaccination must be initiated, to allay public fear and apprehension on getting COVID-19 shots,” according to KMP.

Apprehensions with the government’s vaccine procurement plan started with the Department of Health’s shady handling of the so-called Pfizer deal. 

While at least 61 cities are ready to spend P10-billion for COVID-19 vaccines, KMP said free COVID-19 vaccines should also reach the rural population in provinces and far-flung areas that are also at risk.” 

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. admitted that the government is poised to purchase a total of 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for 2021, with the first batch of vaccines scheduled to arrive by February.

“With this announcement, we expect the roll-out of free COVID-19 mass vaccination for Filipinos, of course with the assurance of the safety, efficacy, and accessibility of the vaccine,” according to KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos.

The KMP leader said the government and the IATF-EID must learn the hard lessons from its decision to shun the free mass testing demands from concerned sectors and the public. “The government must also abide by its set priority groups and set priority risk areas for vaccination. We do not want the vaccination program to become a tool for political patronage and ‘kickvaccs’ (kickback) or corruption,” the peasant leader concluded. ###