Some police personnel of the Police Regional Office (PRO-7)
CEBU CITY, Philippines — At least 191 police personnel of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) will be reassigned to low-risk duties as these are still unvaccinated due to medical conditions and religious beliefs.
Police Brigadier General Roque Eduardo Vega, PRO-7 director, said that of the 11,279 police personnel, 1.69 percent or an equivalent of around 191 personnel were still unvaccinated.
This leaves the over 9,700 police personnel, who have already received their full jabs.
The low-risk duties that Vega is referring to include administrative duties. This means that these personnel will not yet be allowed to do fieldwork.
However, the reassigning of these personnel is pending the issuance of the memorandum from the national headquarters signed by Police General Dionardo Carlos, the chief of the Philippine National Police.
In his press release, Vega said that some of the medical reasons of these individuals include having allergic reactions to the vaccine, comorbidities (kidney problem, hypertension, asthma, cyst meds, sinusitis, diabetes, heart enlargement, recovering from brain surgery, chronic gastritis), pregnant, and lactating mothers.
On December 7, 2021, Carlos released a statement that it would be practical that those unvaccinated personnel will be assigned to ‘low-risk’ duties such as the admin works. This is for them to still render service while these personnel will not be deployed for field work.
“As the Chief, PNP has said, unvaccinated personnel will not be deployed for fieldwork. Instead, they will do administrative duties to be less exposed to risks of COVID-19 infection. The full deployment of personnel during the holiday season is needed. Thus, I urged my men to follow the safety health protocols, to stay safe and in good physical shape in performing their police functions,” said Vega.
READ: Unvaxxed cops won’t be allowed to do field work