Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 18)— Majority or 73% of Senate employees have already been vaccinated against COVID-19, according to Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.
“Seventy-three percent of the Senate employees are already vaccinated. For the record,” Sotto said during Tuesday’s plenary session, adding some of the senators are among the remaining 27%. “Because ang usapan natin huli tayo (Because we said we’ll go last).”
Senate Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri said those vaccinated belong to priority groups, such as health workers, senior citizens, and those with comorbidities.
“Special mention to Sec. Vince Dizon who had facilitated… during the time that we’re vaccinating A1, A2, A3 of our Senate employees,” Zubiri said, as he thanked Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. “for making this happen.”
Zubiri also welcomed Galvez’s pronouncement that the A4 group — composed of essential workers and frontliners in national government offices — will be inoculated soon.
“Hopefully when we return, we’d be fully vaccinated and be able to do more work during the budget deliberations that will need plenary discussions,” Zubiri said, referring to the budget season in August after a nearly two-month break.
The Senate only has less than three weeks before session adjourns on June 5. Senators agreed to hold sessions from Monday to Thursday, instead of the usual three-day schedule, to allow them more time to deliberate on priority measures.
The Senate has around 1,800 employees. In an interview with Senate reporters on May 6, Sotto said only 190 employees had received their COVID-19 shots then.
