Lawmaker calls for mobile vaccination services

Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel on Sunday urged the government to deploy “mobile vaccination resources” to bring COVID-19 shots closer to hard-to-reach and high-risk sub-groups of the population.

“Many Filipinos have not received their COVID-19 shots due to practical barriers that have prevented them from accessing vaccination services. The government has to reach out to these Filipinos with transportable vaccination teams,” Pimentel said.

Mobile inoculation services would enable the government to get to Filipinos who remain unvaccinated because of their social and economic situation, according to Pimentel.

“There are people who cannot access vaccination services due to lack of public transportation, or due to family care or work schedules,” Pimentel pointed out.

“Many of them cannot go to fixed vaccination sites because they are looking after children, the elderly or persons with disability all the time,” Pimentel said.

“We have to make it convenient for these Filipinos to access vaccination services,” Pimentel said.

The government plans to fully vaccinate 77 million Filipinos by yearend to achieve herd immunity against the highly contagious respiratory disease.

However, as of Oct. 15, only 24.1 million Filipinos had been fully vaccinated, with almost 52 million doses administered throughout the country, according to the Department of Health.

Last week, the House of Representatives greenlighted another P20 billion in funding for the purchase of additional COVID-19 vaccines in the P5.024-trillion 2022 national budget.

The House also approved another P45.4 billion in unprogrammed appropriations in the budget “with standby authority” for the procurement of COVID-19 booster shots.