The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) has expressed its plans to vaccinate up to one million Filipinos against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Senator and PRC Chairman Richard Gordon revealed that his team managed to vaccinate a million Filipinos for polio and measles, and that they plan to do the same once a COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for public use in the Philippines.
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“Ang goal namin one million [vaccines]. ‘Yan ang pinag-usapan namin ng aking mga staff kasama ang mga doktor namin,” said Senator Gordon in an interview with CNN Philippines.
However, Senator Gordon also stressed that while they at Red Cross are ready to provide vaccines for the public, he blasted the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) anew for its longstanding debts for the COVID-19 testing that has reached millions of pesos.
“We are going to do it with the Red Cross kung papayagan kami but again, ayaw ko pang pumasok diyan dahil ang laki pa ng utang ng PhilHealth. Hanggang hindi nababayaran ‘yan, we cannot go and commit ourselves again to baka another wild goose chase trying to get it out,” explained the PRC chairman.
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He also stressed that while international donors may extend help to the Philippines, they may also raise concerns as to why the government’s debts to the local Red Cross organization remain unsettled to date.
“Ako makakakuha ako ng tulong sa ibang international Red Cross societies pero syempre at the back of their heads ‘Nanghihingi ka ng tulong pero ‘yung utang sayo ng gobyerno mo… tinulungan mo na, hindi ka binabayaran P800 million na aabot ang test, bakit ka hihingi sa amin?'” said Senator Gordon.
