By Celerina Monte

Foreign nationals with legal residency status in the Philippines are allowed to avail of the free vaccination against coronavirus disease, the National Task Force Against COVID-19 said on Thursday.

In a televised press briefing, NTF Chief Implementer and Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said foreigners are accorded "equal protection."

"We have to give them equal protection, because they are also competing with us in the hospitals. And we are also doing this (based on) reciporcity," he said.

Galvez noted that Filipinos abroad are also allowed to receive COVID-19 vaccine by their respective host countries.

He said if a foreign national is a senior citizen, he or she belongs to A2 priority group or if with co-morbidities, to A3.

Restituto Padilla Jr., NTF spokesman, in a text message to Manila Shimbun, cited Department of Health Memorandum No. 0157, which provides the guidelines for priority group A3 and further clarification of the National Deployment and Vaccination Plan for COVID-19 Vaccines.

The memo clarified that all Filipinos, including overseas Filipino workers, and other groups "with legal residency status in the Philippines," such as foreign nationals and diplomats, "shall be included in the priority group appropriate to their circumstance."

Padilla said foreigners have to "follow the same prioritization as what we have now. If they are seniors, they will be A2. If they are health workers, A1, etc."

In order for the foreigners to avail of the vaccine, he said they may register in their respective local government units and "get vaccinated there."

Galvez said there were foreigners, including expatriates, who received the jabs.

Asked on the statistics of foreign nationals who have availed of the vaccination program, Padilla said, "DOH does not have that granularity yet."

With the limited supply yet of the vaccines, the Philippine government is still vaccinating those belonging to A1 or workers in frontline health services; A2 or senior citizens; and A3 or persons with comorbidities.

On Labor Day or May 1, the Department of Labor and Employment will conduct ceremonial vaccination of selected OFWs and minimum wage earners nationwide using 5,000 doses of China's Sinovac vaccine.

The OFWs and the said workers belong to A4 or frontline personnel in essential sectors, including uniformed personnel. DMS