Manila Bulletin
'Vaccine-for-nurses' trade a sign of desperation?
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon criticized the Department of Labor and Employment's (DOLE) proposal to exchange Filipino nurses and healthcare workers for COVID-19 vaccines with the UK and Germany.
Drilon stated the initiative, referred to as "palit bakuna" or vaccine exchange, is a sign of desperation due to the country's lack of vaccines.
He emphasized that healthcare workers should not be treated as commodities to be traded.
A DOLE official revealed that Secretary Silvestre Bello III requested at least 600,000 vaccines from the UK and Germany in exchange for deploying more Filipino nurses and healthcare workers.
Drilon argued that the government's willingness to trade healthcare workers for vaccines indicates a flawed vaccination strategy.
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News Sources
See how different news organizations are covering this story. Below are the original articles from various Philippine news sources that contributed to this summary.
The Filipino Nurses United (FNU) strongly disapproved of a proposal attributed to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) that suggested trading Filipino nurses for COVID-19 vaccines.
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Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III proposed that the UK provide COVID-19 vaccines in exchange for an exemption from the 5,000 deployment cap for Filipino healthcare workers.
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Vice President Leni Robredo expressed sadness over Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III's proposal to trade Filipino nurses for COVID-19 vaccines from the United Kingdom.
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The United Kingdom government has stated it will not link the deployment of Filipino nurses to the UK with the provision of COVID-19 vaccines.
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