Quezon solon defends herself after getting flak from vaccine czar for “unauthorized” immunization
The lawmaker, who was also a doctor and currently chairs House of Representatives Committee on Health, also said she received the vaccine not as a lawmaker, as Galvez claimed, but as a “frontliner.
QUEZON Rep. Angelina Tan found herself in the middle of controversy after she was accused of cutting the line when she had herself vaccinated against Covid-19 by her physician son during her recent visit at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City.
Tan, however, denied that she broke any protocols claiming that she has done nothing wrong because she was vaccinated as a frontline medical worker and not as a lawmaker.
She added that she got her vaccine from her son’s allocation for the family as a surgeon in the hospital.
This, as vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. ordered an investigation on her being vaccinated by her eldest son noting that the vaccines were reserved for frontline medical health workers.
Galvez, however, said that the mandate was clear that all vaccines are for medical workers and that there was no rule that allows the substitution of an allotted vaccine from one individual to another.
“Wala pong directive na ganoon, mali po iyon. Lahat ng 1.7 [million] na frontliners muna sa ngayon. Wala po munang mga dependent. We are protecting the institutions. Kulang po tayo,” Galvez said in an interview.
“Mali po iyon, we will investigate on that just in case meron pong nangyaring ganon,” he added.
The lawmaker, who was also a doctor and currently chairs House of Representatives Committee on Health, however, insisted she received the vaccine not as a lawmaker, as Galvez claimed, but as a “frontliner.”
“Besides I am a medical doctor and part of my regular rounds in the [district] is consultation with patients. I did that (vaccination) not as a [congressman’s] privilege, but as a frontliner and mother-frontliner also,” she added. (ONT)