Leni Robredo

Robredo wants to bring Vaccine Express to other LGUs

Jamilah Angco

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Robredo wants to bring Vaccine Express to other LGUs

DRIVE-THROUGH VACCINATION. Vice President Leni Robredo and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno team up for the launch of the Vaccine Express, a COVID-19 drive-through vaccination project at the CCP Complex on June 22, 2021.

Rappler

The Office of the Vice President also gives P500-worth of gas incentives to public transportation and delivery drivers who lined up to get their COVID-19 vaccine

Vice President Leni Robredo’s office expressed hope that they could replicate the Vaccine Express drive-through vaccination site in other interested local government units (LGUs), after the original project kicked off in Manila City on Tuesday, June 22.

In a chance interview, Robredo said the Office of the Vice President (OVP) is open to partner with other LGUs for the vaccination effort, provided that the vaccine doses will be coming from each LGU.

“Marami po iyong nagre-request sa amin pero ang problema po namin supply. Wala po kaming access ng supply. Pero kami po, any time na available ang supply, available po kami,” said the Vice President.

(A lot of LGUs are requesting to partner with us but our problem is the supply. We do not have access to the vaccine supply, but we are always available where vaccines are available.)

The OVP will be responsible for the logistics and personnel of the Vaccine Express, while the LGU will be in charge of the vaccine doses to be administered to target sectors and communities.

“Iyong vaccine supply po galing sa City of Manila. Supply po ito ng LGU. Iyong amin lang po dito iyong deployment ng vaccines. So iyong mga doktor, mga nurses, iyong lahat pong personnel na nagsi-screen, nagva-vaccinate, iyon po iyong volunteers natin, pero iyong supply galing sa City of Manila,” said Robredo.

(The vaccine supply [for the original Vaccine Express] came from the City of Manila. It is the supply of the LGU. The OVP is only responsible for the deployment of the vaccines. The doctors, nurses, and personnel who screen and vaccinate are all volunteers from the OVP. The vaccine supply came from the City of Manila.)

On Tuesday, Robredo and Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno visited the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) activity grounds, where the COVID-19 vaccination drive for tricycle, pedicab, and delivery riders was rolled out.

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To motivate more Manila drivers to get vaccinated via the Vaccine Express, the OVP also partnered with SEAOIL Foundation to give out P500-worth of gas card incentives to riders who got inoculated there.

The two-day vaccination service aims to inoculate 3,000 to 5,000 Manila drivers, Robredo said during a Facebook Live broadcast.

As of June 22, 2,000 drivers have already been vaccinated through the drive-through service.

Moreno has already approved the OVP’s proposal to also bring the Vaccine Express project to market vendors in the city.

Proposed Mindanao and Visayas expansion

On Wednesday, June 23, Cagayan de Oro City 2nd District Representative Rufus Rodriguez urged Robredo to bring the Vaccine Express to areas in Mindanao and the Visayas, where recent COVID-19 surges are happening. 

“The Vice President should include cities in Mindanao and Visayas such as Cagayan de Oro and Iloilo where COVID-19 cases are increasing, instead of Manila, which has already given so [many] vaccines to its residents,” the House Deputy speaker said in a statement. 

Robredo then replied to a reporter’s Twitter thread about Rodriguez’s statement, telling the lawmaker that the OVP is “very much willing” to bring the Vaccine Express to Rodriguez’s district.

“We are very much willing. Will ask our team to coordinate with yours,” Robredo told Rodriguez

Needs for improvement

Not all was smooth sailing at the project’s launch, however.

Darmin Krentz Sabanal, a delivery driver from Manila, got inoculated on the first day of the Vaccine Express. He lined up at 8 am, but got inoculated past 12:35 pm.

According to Sabanal, there were supposed to be separate lines for tricycle, pedicab, and delivery riders. But public transportation drivers who arrived late were asked to line up with the delivery riders.

Hindi po kasi namin inexpect na may kasama kami sa pila. Expect namin na ‘yung line is for Grab riders only,” Sabanal told Rappler.

(We did not expect that there would be other sectors in our line. We expected that our line was for Grab riders only.) 

When Robredo and Moreno visited the site, pedicab and tricycle drivers were suddenly called to the site to be prioritized, leaving delivery riders unattended. 

Nahinto ‘yung pagpapasok sa mga rider. Kasi nung hindi pa sila dumadating, tuloy-tuloy lang ‘yung pila. Mabilis ang usad. Tapos biglang hindi na gumalaw,” Sabanal said. 

(The operation for the riders halted because when [the pedicab and tricycle drivers] were not yet at the site, the system was fast and smooth. But then the operations suddenly stopped.) 

“Naantala ang pila ng dumating sila VP Leni Robredo at Mayor Isko Moreno. Isang oras naantala ang pila at kami ay nabilad sa arawan. Pagkatapos nilang bisitahin ang Vaccine Express, naging mabilis naman na ulit ang proseso sa pagbabakuna,” he added. 

(Operations got delayed when VP Leni Robredo and Mayor Isko Moreno came to the site. The delay lasted for an hour and we [riders] were exposed to the heat of the sun. After their visit, the vaccination process became smooth again.)

Sabanal also received the gas incentive from the OVP, but he said that it was not enough to encourage other people to get vaccinated, since others were still hesitant after the 2017 Dengvaxia dengue vaccine scare, and due to the lack of trust with the vaccine brand Sinovac

“The best way is to educate them, siguro kung magbibigay sila ng karagdagang kaalaman sa bakuna, kung paano ginawa, paano ito nakakaapekto sa katawan ng tao,” he explained. 

(The best way is to educate them, if they would provide more information about the vaccines, how it works, and how it affects the health of a person.)

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– Rappler.com

Jamilah Angco is a 3rd year journalism student from the University of Santo Tomas. She is a Rappler intern.

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