The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said that while it supports efforts to address vaccine hesitancy, the proposed ‘No vaccine, No subsidy’ policy should consider many things on the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries.

In a Laging Handa briefing last Wednesday, DSWD Assistant Secretary Glenda Relova said that the department “would like to emphasize that many should be considered before we implement the no vaccine, no subsidy.”

Relova said certain provisions, particularly Section 11 of the 4Ps Act of Republic Act 11310, should be amended before imposing the “no vaccine, no subsidy” policy. This section provides all conditionalities in the distribution of government subsidy to the 4Ps recipients.

“At nakita po natin mayroon talagang substantial increase sa willingness po ng ating mga benepisyaryo ng 4Ps. More than 40 percent po iyong ngayon ay pumapayag na at halos 4.2 percent na lang po iyong mayroong fear po para sa ating pagbabakuna,” she said.

(We saw there is a substantial increase in the willingness of our 4Ps beneficiaries. More than 40 percent of them are now favoured, and only 4.2 percent still fear getting vaccinated.)

Relova further explained that out of the 4.1 million registered 4Ps beneficiaries, only around 600,000 were jabbed against Covid-19 as of November 5.

“Anyway, the government has just started to vaccinate those in the A5 category that includes 4Ps beneficiaries,” she said, adding that the date can be increased once the nationwide rollout starts.

“Kagaya po ng nabanggit natin, umaapela po ang DSWD sa ating mga partner agencies na magkaroon muna ng pag-uusap tungkol dito. Subalit nais naming banggitin na ang DSWD ay naniniwala, ang pagbabakuna ay nanatiling boluntaryo at kinakailangan po talaga ang informed consent ng ating mga benepisyaryo,” she added.

(The DSWD appeals to its partner agencies to have a discussion on this, but we would also like to clarify that the agency believes that vaccination should remain voluntary, and we really need informed consent from the beneficiaries.)

To address vaccine hesitancy among 4Ps beneficiaries, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año recently announced the proposed ‘No vaccine, No subsidy,’ which the Department of Health supports. – WhatALife.ph

Source: (1)

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