TOLENTINO WANTS IMPLEMENTATION OF 'WATERFALLS POLICY' TO HASTEN COVID-19 VACCINATION

Senator Francis "Tol" N. Tolentino has urged the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) to implement the "Waterfalls policy" to hasten COVID-19 vaccination in the country.

In an interview with radio DZBB on Sunday, Tolentino underscored that under the "Waterfalls policy", the IATF could re-allot the reserved vaccines for those who belong to A2 and A3 categories who refused to get their jabs.

The senator further explained that the number of people who wants to get vaccinated outweighs the number of those who are still hesitating to get their jabs, citing the cases of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), who have yet to receive a single dose of vaccine since they were not included in the government's priority list.

Elements from the AFP, PNP, and even PCG have also been at the forefront of the government's fight against COVID-19 since Day 1, alongside medical front-liners

Aside from facilitating strict checkpoints in the entire country, some of their personnel have also been involved in caring for those who have contracted the virus.

As of March 21 the AFP has reported over 7,342 personnel who have contracted COVID-19, 870 of which are nursing active infections. A total of 6,424 have recovered, although 48 others have died; the PNP on the hand have recorded over 20,398 personnel to have contracted the virus since the pandemic begun, but none of them were included in the priority list of to be vaccinated against the dreaded disease.

"Meron tinatawag na waterfalls policy, pababa yung cascading nito, kapag ayaw ng A3 bigay sa A4, kapag ayaw ng A4 bigay sa A5, kapag ayaw ng A5 bigay sa B1 palagay ko ubos lahat yan. Ang balanse po natin ay nasa 107,000 na lang na vaccine, itong bilang na ito baka 53,000 Filipinos lang yan, isang probinsya lang yan ubos po yan." Tolentino said.

While Tolentino acknowledges the government's efforts to combat COVID-19, he also underscored the need to strengthen information dissemination campaign to encourage other Filipinos to get inoculated emphasizing that its not the vaccine brand that causes the hesitation of some, but the lack of proper informational campaign approach to educate the people.

With the way things are going, the Senator is hopeful that the country will soon achieve herd immunity.