As reports of people jumping queues and seeking fake appointments to get first in the Covid-19 vaccination priority list keep on coming in from across the country, Paranaque City 2nd District’s Rep. Joy Myra Tambunting has sought to criminalise these acts with two-month imprisonment and fines of up to P 500,000 for violators of COVID-19’s vaccine priority framework.
The House Bill 9189 or COVID-19 Vaccine Queue-Jumping Ban Act will penalize anyone who disobeys the priority population groups for inoculation.
While citing the cases of violations, the lawmaker also lashed out at “VIP” vaccination–public officials who got themselves inoculated by jumping the line since they weren’t yet high on the priority list.
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“It is essential that the country strictly adheres to the COVID-19 vaccine line to ensure that medical frontliners and the most vulnerable are inoculated first,” she said in the bill’s explanatory note.
HB 9189 was filed last April and was referred to the House justice committee when plenary sessions resumed this week.
As early as December 2020, there were reports of alleged “VIP” vaccination even before the inoculation began.
By the time the vaccination began in March, reports of some personalities getting jabs ahead of other healthcare workers also marred the rollout.
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The government’s focus to vaccinate on a priority basis right now are healthcare workers, senior citizens and persons with comorbidities.
The available vaccine brands have also grown to four options: Sinovac Biotech’s Coronavac, AstraZeneca, Gamaleya Institute’s Sputnik V, and Pfizer BioNTech.
Earlier this week, Muntinlupa City Rep. Ruffy Biazon claimed that some persons are using “fake notification messages for vaccine appointment” to get jabs even if they did not sign up for it.
“Pinoy style. Got it from first-hand sources, an ongoing racket in vaccination sites in at least two cities: people use fake notification messages for vaccine appointment to bypass the online registration or appointment system and get into the vaccine sites to get their jabs,” he said on Twitter. (AW)
