029BD: Hypothetical Discussion

Fire Trees

Metro Manila Community Quarantine - Day 432

If an organization typically known for HIV and STD testing partners with the local government to administer COVID-19 vaccines, that sounds like a good idea. They already have medical staff who are used to processing large groups for testing, so why not groups for vaccination?

They already have a working relationship with many PLHIVs, of whom many count as people with controlled comorbidities, and so they should be able to encourage more individuals to come forward to get vaccinated. So that's a good thing.

But when they offer the vaccine to anyone with whom they claim to have a "client" relationship because said individuals availed of their testing services (but may not have been found to have comorbidities), then that feels weird to me. And when you consider that their vaccine supply comes from the local government, then a lot of those vaccines are from the global COVAX facility, which should be administered following the prioritization set by COVAX. 

Where do "clients" fit in that priority list?

So as much as I am glad that more people are getting vaccinated, it makes me feel VERY uncomfortable to know that a lot of the people who got their shots would not have qualified under A1, A2, or A3 classifications, which are the only groups who are supposed to be getting vaccinated at this point. 

Don't get me started on the new "A1.5" group.

The press materials they put out indicated that they were only helping to vaccinate A1-A3 individuals, but we know from reality that a LOT of unqualified people are getting their shots through them this week based on social media updates.

But calling that sort of thing out on social media will just draw attention and I don't feel up to arguing with a lot of HIV advocates right now. And so I'm going write about my frustrations here instead. It's better than nothing and is still part of why I started blogging in the first place.

Anyway, the group has announced that all 3,000 doses have been spoken for based on the reservations/appointments set until Saturday, so what's done is done. Meanwhile, I'm still preparing for my vaccination on Saturday while Tobie will have to wait a lot longer given he does not meet A3 criteria. 

Comments

  1. Ganun talaga, love. Let's just focus on staying safe.
    Hugs.

    ReplyDelete

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