Palace spokesperson Harry Roque said those who want to get COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer have a “colonial mentality” would have to wait because only major cities have facilities to store the coronavirus vaccine developed by the US pharmaceutical firm.
“Sa mga mayroong colonial mentality na gustong Pfizer, puwede po kayong maghintay, pero ang ating warning po eh talaga diyan lang po iyan mabibigay dito sa Pilipinas sa mga major na siyudad dahil wala naman talaga tayong cold chain capacity outside Metro Manila,” Roque said.
(For those with a colonial mentality who want Pfizer, you can wait, but our warning is that it can only be given here in the Philippines to major cities because we really do not have cold chain capacity outside Metro Manila.)
According to David, E. J. R., & Okazaki, S., “Colonial mentality is a term used widely by ethnic studies scholars and by the Filipino American community to refer to a form of internalized oppression among Filipinos and Filipino Americans.”
Those who want Pfizer vaccines have ‘colonial mentality’ – Roque
An example of colonial mentality is when Filipinos choose the products from the US over those made in the Philippines.
Other government officials earlier said that the Philippines was supposed to get 10 million doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, but “somebody dropped the ball.”
Senator Panfilo Lacson then revealed that Health Secretary Francisco Duque’s failure cost the Philippines 10 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
Roque also said that said Filipinos who would avail of free COVID-19 vaccines from the government should not be “picky” when it comes to what brand they would receive.
“Totoo po, meron tayong lahat na karapatan para sa mabuting kalusugan pero hindi naman po pwede na pihikan dahil napakaraming Pilipino na dapat turukan,” Roque said in a televised Palace press briefing.
(We all indeed have the right to good health but we cannot afford to be picky because there are so many Filipinos who need to be injected.)
Those who are in priority areas who do not want to get the COVID-19 vaccine need to sign a waiver that they refused to get the free vaccine.