But Tan said she was vaccinated because she is also a physician. The hospital has been under scrutiny since a lawmaker from Quezon City, Representative Angelina Tan, got vaccinated at VMMC where her son is a doctor. “Doctors and staff bring one or two people as ‘paki-suyo (favor) and padrino (buddy system)’, you know our culture,” said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals at work. “We targeted healthcare workers and we’re strict with the screening, unless they duped us and pretended to be healthcare workers,” she said.Ī spokesperson for the city said the Philippine Department of Health will issue a show cause order against Aleido to explain in more detail why he received a vaccine.Ī staff member at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, the largest military hospital in Manila, told VICE World News it is common knowledge at the hospital that vaccines are offered to people under a traditional form of patronage known as the “padrino system” in which connections and friendships can be called in for favors. Ivy Marie Yrastorza, a Bacoor City health officer, said she was not aware of the incident but that a task force would investigate. He did not respond to a request for a comment, but also claimed in the post that the Department of Health was informed of his vaccination.ĭr. The individual, who is identified as an architect named Daniel Aleido, said his sister was a front-line worker and that “using some privileges can’t hurt.” On a recent day at a clinic in Bacoor City in a province several hours from Manila, healthcare workers lined up to get the first batch of AstraZeneca vaccines, a small portion of the hundreds of thousands donated to the Philippines through the COVAX Facility.Ī doctor shared screenshots with VICE World News of an Instagram story in which someone who does not work in healthcare received one of the precious shots. “Most importantly because it is our moral obligation to allow our front-liners to be the first to receive the protection they need and deserve, especially amid this surge,” he said in a statement on Thursday. Philippine vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., a former military general, also begged the public to follow the prioritization rules this week. Photo: Presidential Communications Operations Office / AFP Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (2nd L) looking at a vial of the Sinovac vaccine, after a plane transporting the first batch of the vaccine arrived abroad a Chinese air force plane, at Villamor air base in Manila. The problem here is that we’re still in the first group ,” he said. “I understand fully the psyche of a Filipino. In a televised speech late Wednesday, Duterte himself acknowledged the conditions set by WHO and its COVAX Facility, ordering health authorities to investigate. While difficult to determine the scale of line-jumping, interviews with medical professionals, social media posts reviewed by VICE World News, and the government’s own statements point to a growing problem that authorities are struggling to control. President Rodrigo Duterte’s top officials, nine mayors who were entrusted with vaccines, celebrities, and ordinary people with connections have all received jabs. More than 13,000 people have died in the Philippines since the pandemic started a year ago, and hospitals are now dealing with a second wave.īut the limited doses, which are barely enough for 1.7 million medical front-liners in the country, has not stopped the powerful and wealthy from cutting the line. ![]() Donated by the WHO’s global COVAX Facility, an alliance ensuring vaccine availability for non-wealthy nations, the AstraZeneca batches were reserved for front-line health care workers as part of the agreement. ![]() The first-ever batches containing 600,000 shots of China’s Sinovac vaccine and nearly half a million doses of the United Kingdom’s AstraZeneca jab arrived in the Philippines this month.
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