42,493 PDLs already vaccinated vs COVID
THE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sunday said that 35% or 42,493 of the 122,498 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) in various jail facilities managed by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) nationwide have already received their COVID-19 jabs and that the vaccination program continues.
DILG Secretary Eduardo M. Año said that as of September 13, of the over 42k PDLs who got jabbed, 27,951 have received their first dose, 7,473 got their 2nd dose, and another 7,069 have received single-dose vaccines and are completely vaccinated.
“All in all, 14,542 PDLs already have complete doses and have full protection against COVID-19 and the vaccination program continues. Our goal is to have all PDLs in all our jail facilities vaccinated,” said Año.
Año assured the public that the DILG and the BJMP are in continuous coordination with the National Vaccine Operations Center (NVOC) and the concerned local government units (LGUs) regarding the vaccine allocation and immunization of both jail officers and PDLs in all 467 district, city, and municipal jails nationwide.
The DILG Chief cited that there are even BJMP jail facilities like the Bocaue Municipal Jail and the Bataan District Jail where PDLs have already been 100% vaccinated through the support of their LGUs who allocated a steady supply of vaccines to their PDLs.
According to the DILG Secretary, the regions with the highest number of fully vaccinated PDLs are Metro Manila with 3,192, CALABARZON with 1,853, and Region X with 1,747.
He said there is no hesitancy among PDLs in facilities controlled by the BJMP to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
With more supplies of COVID-19 vaccines coming, Año urged LGUs to ensure sufficient allocation of vaccines for jail officers and PDLs.
“Nakikiusap kami sa ating mga LGUs na bigyan ng sapat na alokasyon ang mga PDLs at jail officers. Napakadelikado na magkaroon ng hawaan sa loob ng mga piitan kaya dapat ay bakunado rin sila,” he said.
Among the uniformed BJMP personnel, 12,568 have so far been fully vaccinated while 14,441 have at least the first dose and are awaiting their second doses.
“Our PDLs are not and will never be second-class citizens and they, too, deserve to be protected from the virus. We will not stop until all PDLs under the DILG and the BJMP’s supervision are all vaccinated,” Año said.
