BACOLOD City – The scheduled coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination of Mayor Evelio Leonardia and 41 punong barangays in this city has been called off.
Late afternoon yesterday, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said it would be issuing show-cause orders (SCOs) to local chief executives (LCEs) inoculated against the disease ahead of the priority populations.
Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III said they were currently verifying reports about several mayors who had supposedly received anti-COVID shots.
City Health Office in-charge Edwin Miraflor said Mayor Evelio Leonardia already prepared himself for a jab from British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca. He, however, backed off upon knowing DILG’s position on the matter.
The mayor is very much willing to be vaccinated together with the punong barangays, said Miraflor.
Leonardia was supposed to be vaccinated at the Bacolod City Government Center this afternoon.
Earlier, it was Leonardia who said that the National Inter-Agency Task Force approved their request to classify LCEs among the priorities for vaccination.
He pointed out that in reality, the LCEs are also frontliners in the fight against COVID-19.
“We are sure this development will inspire and encourage LCEs to even work harder and more effectively in the implementation of our COVID-19 program, considering that we are now accelerating our efforts to vaccinate as many of our people and as fast as possible,” Leonardia earlier said./PN
