President Rodrigo Duterte wants the government to bring COVID-19 vaccines directly to the poor so that they would not have to travel to hospitals to get inoculated.

Duterte, known for making similarly populist remarks, even wanted his order implemented in “three days,” despite being told previously that health workers would be receiving all the vaccines on hand, and that indigent communities are farther down the priority list.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, however, pointed out the huge logistical challenge that such a directive would entail.

The exchange began with Duterte talking about how poor communities cramped together have little hope of abiding by social distancing rules.

To give them protection, vaccines should be brought to them using however number of government cars it would take, he said.

“Ang order ko ngayon is for the team to give you the vaccine, at least mayroon. Kung 5, 6, 7 [kotse] okay na ‘yan, maraming sasakyan. We will use all government assets. Gamitin natin lahat ng sasakyan ng gobyerno, lahat,” said Duterte.

(My order now is for the team to give you the vaccine. If we have 5, 6, or 7 cars, that’s okay. We need lots of cars. We will use all government assets. We will use all government vehicles.)

Pronto

“Can we have it three days from now? The traveling unit?” asked Duterte.

Duque carefully pointed out that the problem with such a directive was not so much how many cars the government could spare.

“Ang problema lang po, Mr President, na nakikita ko ngayon, kung dadalhin po ‘yung bakuna sa kanila, kakailanganin po ng napaka maraming tao magmo-monitor for adverse effects following immunization,” said the health chief.

(The problem I see there, Mr President, is if we bring the vaccines to them, we would need lots of people to monitor for adverse effects following immunization.)

Duque, describing this monitoring as a “very important final step” in the vaccination process, said people who have just gotten vaccinated need to be individually observed for 30 minutes to one hour for any serious side effects of the jab.

“Kulang po tayo sa tao para magmonitor (We lack people to monitor), sir,” said the health secretary.

He gave figures to illustrate the magnitude of the task. To reach the government’s target of vaccinating 70 million Filipinos, the aim is to inject 100 people a day in 4,500 vaccinating sites nationwide.

That means vaccinating 450,000 people a day for 5 to 6 months.

Duterte would not budge.

“But if you use that argument that we don’t have people, then the people in poor barangays won’t be reached by vaccination. That’s a problem,” said the President in a mix of English and Filipino.

Duque then gave assurances that poor Filipinos prioritized for vaccination would be in barangay lists prepared beforehand, and that they would be assigned to health centers.

The process would be similar to “voting precincts” in which even the poor have access to the ballot wherever they live, said Duque.

The exchange ended with Duterte saying he was “satisfied” with Duque’s answers but that he still wanted to know how many trips to poor areas in Tondo and Sta Ana, Manila, for example, would be needed to reach residents there.

Duque said he would ask his staff to compute for the figure.

Last week, Duque had also had to explain to Duterte that the Universal Health Care law does require a positive recommendation from the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) before the government could buy vaccines.

Duterte kept insisting this was not the case in order to prove Vice President Leni Robredo wrong. Robredo had been insisting on an HTAC recommendation before rolling out donated Sinovac vaccines. – Rappler.com