The Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) disclosed that some seventy percent of its uniformed and non-uniformed personnel are willing to take the vaccine once the mass vaccination program will be rolled out in the city by the first or second quarter of the year.
BCPO Deputy City Director for Administration Lt. Col. Edward Aquintey said that the figure was derived from a recent survey conducted among the uniformed and non-uniformed personnel as part of the efforts to ascertain the acceptability of the vaccines among the frontliners.
However, he did disclose what brand of vaccine will be acceptable to the police personnel who expressed their willingness to take the vaccine.
The police official claimed the result of this survey indicates the high acceptance of law enforcers on the vaccine that will help boost the confidence of people in accepting the vaccine to contain the spread of the dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) among their families and their relatives.
Aquintey explained that 30 percent of the members of the city police force are still hesitant to take the vaccine following varying reports on the side effects of the vaccines, thus, the need to enhance the information and education campaign to increase the acceptability of the vaccine among the public.
Earlier, the city government reported it will procure some 380,000 doses of vaccine from Astra Zenica in addition to its allocation from the National Vaccine Committee following the city’s identification as one of the priority areas for vaccination and possible donations from the private sector.
Under the national and local guidelines for the priority sectors that will be vaccinated, health workers and frontliners, including the police and military, will be the priority recipients of vaccines arriving in the city.
On the other hand, Aquintey disclosed the local police force will be preparing a security plan for the expected arrival of the vaccines purchased by the city government and the city’s allocation from the National Vaccine Committee to ensure the storage area will be appropriately secured.
According to him, BCPO is awaiting the guidelines from higher authorities on the provision of security to the vaccines to guide them in the preparation of the local security plans to secure these vaccines for the government’s mass vaccination program.
The BCPO deputy chief appealed to residents to continue adhering to the prescribed basic health and safety protocols to prevent them from being given warnings or being apprehended by law enforcers and subsequently being imposed the penalties for violation.
He pointed out that the fight is against the unseen enemy and law enforcers are the simply enforcing the regulations crafted for the safety of everyone. By Dexter A. See
