MANILA – In the aftermath of Typhoon Fabian’s rains and floods, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles echoed President Rodrigo Duterte’s request for local government units (LGUs) to be more cautious in carrying out Covid-19 vaccination efforts.
Nograles said Duterte has always detested long lines, therefore the President’s directive to local governments to find ways to make the immunization procedure easier for scheduled recipients did not surprise him.
“Nung nakita niyang nakapila nga para sa vaccination, inutusan niya ang DILG [Department of the Interior and Local Government] na pakiusapan yung mga mayors, ayusin natin ang sistema. Palagay ko ang kailangan gawin ng mga LGUs pag nagkakaroon ng vaccination at may ulan, kailangan may special protocols sila at procedures para hindi ma-hassle ang ating mga kababayan (When he saw the long lines for vaccination, he instructed the DILG to ask mayors to organize the system. I think LGUs need to have special protocols and procedures so that our citizens don’t encounter problems during vaccination while it’s raining),” he said in an interview over dzBB.
According to Nograles, local governments may consider vaccinations by appointment while temporarily restricting walk-in recipients.
“Dapat talaga kung sino yung naka appointment, dapat yun yung i-encourage natin na pumunta (Those with appointments are the ones we should encourage to show up),” he said.
When it comes to conducting an orderly vaccination drive during the rainy season, he noted, local officials will still have the final say.
Duterte raised alarm about long queues at vaccination facilities and the possibility of leptospirosis during a meeting with Cabinet officials on Saturday night.
“People are exposed in the open, unprotected from the elements tapos (and then) waiting for a chance to have the shot. Mga three to four hours magtindig diyan, sir. Sabagay baha kasi ngayon eh (Standing three to four hours because there are floods). They could just have looked for another auditorium there or somewhere to do it,” he said.
Duterte then asked DILG Secretary Eduardo Año to issue an order asking LGU officials to be more “proactive” in assuring a smoother immunization drive, particularly amid floods.
“Can I request the Secretary of Local Government to just enjoin them — may be a directive to enjoin them to be more circumspect and not to — especially now that the southwest monsoon is passing the country na hindi ganito ang ano (that’s not like this)? It’s not the way — how to do it,” he added.
According to data from the Department of Health (DOH), the number of leptospirosis cases in the country grew by 13% in the first half of 2021, with a total of 589 cases.
In the same period last year, there were just 520 documented leptospirosis cases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that leptospirosis is an infectious disease caused by pathogenic bacteria called leptospires that are transmitted directly or indirectly from animals to humans.
The disease, which is most frequent in high-rainfall tropical and subtropical places, is spread mostly by human contact with sick animals’ urine or a urine-polluted environment.
