Malacañang on Tuesday said it could request lawmakers in the Congress to pass a bill that would make vaccination against Covid-19 mandatory, a day after President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to jail vaccine refusers.
“Kinakailangan ng batas para ma-require itong mandatory vaccination at iyong ipapataw na parusa doon sa ayaw magpabakuna. So madali naman pong i-request iyan sa Kongreso dahil alam naman po ng Kongreso rin ang importansiya nitong pagbabakuna,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque said in a virtual presser.
“Pero gaya nga ng sabi ni presidente, sana hindi na tayo umabot sa puntong iyon ‘no dahil marami naman po talagang nakakaintindi na talagang bakuna po ay susi sa pagsalba ng buhay,” he added.
The Duterte spokesman also said that due to the country’s limited vaccine supply, the government could not yet make vaccination mandatory.
“Siguro po darating tayo doon sa punto na sapat na ang supply. Sa ngayon po, iniengganyo pa natin sila para magbakuna dahil bagama’t kakaunti po ang ating bakuna ay mayroong ayaw nang magpabakuna pa. Pero darating po tayo doon sa sapat-sapat na ang magiging supply natin,” he said.
Roque also said that there was nothing wrong with jailing vaccine refusers, saying it was part of the state’s police powers and was a measure to protect citizens from the virus.
“‘Pag sinabing police power, talagang mayroon pong karapatang nalalabag; pero nilalabag iyong karapatan na iyon para sa mas malawakang interes at ito nga po iyong public health and public safety…It is part and parcel of inherent police power to protect public health,” Roque said.
In May 2020, the Social Weather Stations found in a survey that willingness for vaccination is “1/3 yes, 1/3 unsure and 1/3 no.”
At least 8.4 million vaccines have been administered nationwide. John Ezekiel J. Hirro