Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Wednesday the government is looking at the possibility of mandating teachers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 although the Department of Education said mandatory inoculation for their learners was not required although it was being encouraged.
This emerged amid the expansion phase of face-to-face classes and the de-escalation of Metro Manila and 38 other areas nationwide to Alert Level 1.
“In fact in some of our IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) meetings, [Education] Secretary Leonor Briones has been very, very frank about the problem, with teachers being against vaccination which makes this a big problem if they refuse to be inoculated,” Duque said.
Duque said more teachers now wanted to get themselves inoculated, noting that the vaccine hesitancy rate in the country had gone down to 8 percent.
“I think that’s a good indication or a sign that people already now increasingly believe in the protection that the vaccines provide and they can take advantage of this,” he said.
The resumption of face-to-face classes is now under its expanded phase.
To date, a total of 4,295 schools have started face-to-face classes while 6,213 schools are ready for implementation based on the criteria set by the concerned government agencies.
The DepEd implemented the progressive expansion of the in-person classes on February 22 upon President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval.
During the expansion phase, only vaccinated teachers may participate in the face-to-face classes, and vaccinated learners shall be “preferred” to participate.
As of February 28, there were about 736,000 kids aged five to 11 who received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines, while there are 9.2 million for aged 12 to 17, Duque said.
“That’s 80 percent, more or less, of our target population of 11.4 million pediatric population of 12 to 17 years [old],” he said.
Duque added the struggle that the government needed to hurdle now was acquiring more vaccines for the five to 11 age group as there are only 12.5 million vaccines allotted so far for them.
In November 2021, the Philippines started the COVID-19 vaccination for the 12 to 17 age group.
Meanwhile, the rollout of COVID-19 vaccination for 5 to 11 years old in the country started in February 2022.
In related developments, the DOH plans to finish middle of next week the transition plan for when COVID-19 becomes endemic, Duque said.
Duque said he has met with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) principals to discuss the country’s transition to the new normal.
“Let’s wait for that because it will be clear there what we call the new normal roadmap. This is something that we will launch as soon as all the inputs from the different sectors have been submitted because it’s not easy to do,” he said.
“This is really a map. Very comprehensive, shifting to the new normal and realizing of course that we will live with the virus. I think that’s an important philosophical undertaking that the virus is here to stay, so we have to live with it,” he added.
At the same time, the DOH will be holding the fourth wave of the “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” national vaccination drive from March 10 to 12, a DOH official said.
Health Undersecretary and National Vaccination Operations Center chairperson Myrna Cabotaje said the vaccines will be distributed to homes and workplaces this time.
“We will go to our workplaces. We need to increase booster immunization rates among healthcare workers. We will also focus on ecozones and national government agencies to give boosters to our economic frontliners,” said Cabotaje.
Cabotaje said only 10 million people, or one third of the 36.7 million due for booster shots, have received them.
Cabotaje said the “suyod” or house-to-house campaign was part of the government’s efforts to ramp up vaccinations, particularly in areas with low immunization rates.
A total 63,219,221 Filipinos have completed their primary vaccine series as of February 28, according to Malacañang.
At the end of the third wave of the Bayanihan, Bakunahan program, which ran from February 10 to 18, at least 3.5 million people had been vaccinated against COVID-19, which is short of the government’s goal of five million.