MEMBERS of the national team will have to wait in line behind frontliners—primarily health-care workers—even if Covid-19 vaccines are already available in the country.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., chief of the National Task Force Against Covid-19, said that national athletes and coaches would have to wait for a decision from the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) if they will be prioritized for inoculation.
“The numbers of athletes and coaches are small but we have to wait for the final say of the IATF,” Galvez told Tuesday’s Malacañang Press Briefing presided over by Palace Spokesperson Harry Roque.
The national team is currently pegged at 1,620—996 athletes, 262 coaches, 280 para athletes and 82 para coaches—a great majority of whom have yet to return to actual training with the 31st Southeast Asian Games Vietnam is hosting from November 21 to December 2 only 43 weeks away.
The national team members were stagnant for most of 2020 because of lockdowns that banned group or face-to-face training.
“We cannot compromise our health-care workers, that’s what the IATF is looking for,” Galvez added.
PSC Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez and Commissioner Ramon Fernandez, chef de mission to the Vietnam SEA Games, heeded Galvez’s declaration.
“The top priorities are those athletes who already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics—who are training abroad,” Ramirez said. “Second are the 78 athletes aspiring to qualify for the Olympics like those who are inside Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba.”
Ramirez said that the other athletes have to secure government’s approval if they intend to train abroad.
“Athletes who are going to international games outside of those two categories–aspiring and already qualified, should wait the approval of the Joint Administrative Order group and IATF, subject also to the availability of funds from NSDF [National Sports Development Fund] and PAGCOR [Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation],” Ramirez said.
Fernandez agreed health care workers should always be the top priority.
“Health care workers are very important not only for the people but also for the athletes, but our Olympians should also be prioritized as well since they are heading to Japan first,” Fernandez said.
Vince Dizon, the deputy chief implementer of the National Action Plan Against Covid-19, meanwhile, bared that he is coordinating with the PSC on the approval of application for bubble facilities by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association and the Triathlon Association of the Philippines.
“Maybe in the next few days or next week, we will know the decision of the PSC and it will be endorsed to the IATF for approval—just like the successful Philippine Basketball Association bubble in Clark,” Dizon said.
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