Para dumami nagpapabakuna: Salceda tells gov’t to accept Filipinos bias on vaccine brands

Billy Begas

House Committee on Ways and Means chairperson and Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said the government should accept the reality that some Filipinos have some degree of bias towards Western brands.

Salceda said the government should consider to buy more vaccine brands “with popular demand” to ramp up the vaccine acceptance.

“I myself got Sinovac, as have many of my own family and staff, but the bias is there, so instead of insisting on the Chinese brands, we may have to meet where our people’s consciousness and preferences are, if that is what it takes to get them jabbed,” Salceda said.

Salceda noted that even Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte is calling for the purchase of Western brands “seeing the realities of preference on the ground.”

“The people are not brand-agnostic, even if we wanted them to be. In the end, they are the ones who will decide to get vaccinated, not us. So, I think we should meet them where they are,” Salceda added.

Salceda also expressed his support to the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases’ to provide incentives to those who will get COVID-19 vaccines.

He pointed out that the incentives will be “crucial especially for those who will have to cut a day or so from work.”

Salceda earlier called for the government to give vaccination allowance “to compensate for lost work days” due to the vaccine schedule and the side effects.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said the government is eyeing to give incentives to fully vaccinated Filipinos after the daily vaccination rates have plateaued to around 400,000 jabs.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)