Companies Can Ask Workers to Pay for Dependents' Vaccines: Palace

As long as they don't profit from it.

by Arianne Merez

Photo/s: Jerome Ascaño

Private companies can charge their workers for procured COVID-19 vaccines of their dependents, Malacañang said Tuesday as more jabs ordered start to arrive in the country.

While selling vaccines is prohibited, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said companies can ask for a "reimbursement" of the expenses for the jabs bought for relatives of their workers. Several companies have COVID-19 vaccination initiatives that covered the dependents of their employees.

“Ang polisiya ng gobyerno, unang-una, basta inorder 'yan para doon sa mga taong nag-order at hindi makakarating sa ibang mga tao, hindi ibebenta sa ibang mga tao. Pangalawa, reimbursement for cost po 'yan at walang profit. 'Yan po ay pinapayagan ng ating gobyerno,” Roque said during a press briefing in Clark, Pampanga.

“Hindi issue yung cost sharing na sinisingil ng ilang mga kumpanya provided inorder talaga ‘yan at hindi makakarating sa ibang tao,” he said,

Roque reiterated that private firms were only able to buy vaccines through tripartite agreements involving the national government.

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“Ang pag-aangkat ng mga bakuna ay sa pamamagitan pa rin po nung tripartite agreement sa panig ng DOH (Department of Health), ng NTF (National Task Force Against COVID-19), at ng pribadong sektor,” he said.

The government is rolling out COVID-19 vaccines to the public but with limited jabs, priority is given to health workers, senior citizens, persons with comorbidities, economic frontliners, and the poor.

As of Sunday, July 4, a total of 2,868,905 individuals have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 while 8,839,124 have received their first dose.