“Let me put it very clearly: you have no constitutional right to endanger the public

and spread the disease, even if you disagree. You have no right not to be vaccinated.
And if you refuse to be vaccinated, the state has the power to literally take you to a
doctor’s office and plunge a needle into your arm.”- Harvard’s Alan Dershowitz

The word "vaccination" standing alone means to the common man, scarification,
not drugging, and this is the definition given by the standard dictionaries and likewise is
the interpretation given by American judicial decisions. There is no reason to believe
that the legislature used this term in any other sense, but we are not left in any doubt
because in the same section they speak of a vaccination as an "operation". In the
immediately preceding section of the Revised Administrative Code, section 2693, the
legislature says: “Any person liable to vaccination who shall refuse to submit” to the
operation.

Jurisprudence provides that: “The right of the State to compel compulsory

vaccination is well established and not put in question in these proceedings. Also, the
popular interpretation accorded that ruling is that state police power allows the
imposition of reasonable regulations to protect public health and safety. Mandatory
vaccinations, it is posited, do not violate the constitutional right to liberty, individual
restraints being sometimes necessary for the common good.

The law provides that: “Any parent, guardian, or other persons having charge of
any same for vaccination, as required by law, or who shall fail to return any such child to
the vaccinating officer for verification of the effect of the operation, or for later
vaccination, as the case may be, shall be fined for the offense. Any person in the
Philippine Islands shall submit to vaccination when thereunto lawfully required, unless
he shall furnish satisfactory evidence either by a certificate from a physician or
vaccinator, or otherwise, to the effect that he is immune from the disease of smallpox.
Such vaccination shall be performed gratis.

On June 22, 2021 the most of the Filipino nation was upset by the statement
released by President Rodrigo Duterte on the slow pace of COVID-19 vaccinations in
his country, threatened people who refuse to get inoculated with jail or an injection of
Ivermectin, an anti-parasite drug widely used to treat animals.
On the Sixteen Congress of the Republic of the Philippines on their First Regular
Session introduced by the late Meriam Defensor Santiago, the constitution, Article 11,
Section 15, provides that "the State shall protect and promote the right to health of the
people and instill health consciousness among them." A "public health emergency" is
defined as an occurrence or imminent threat of an illness or health condition, caused by
bio terrorism, epidemic or pandemic disease, or a novel and highly fatal infectious agent
or biological toxin, that poses a substantial risk of a significant number of human
facilities or incidents or permanent or long-term disability (WHO/DCD, 2001). History
has seen the occurrence of plagues, calamities, and outbreaks which have claimed
huge parts of the population. For instance, the Black Death (also known as the Black
Plague or Bubonic Plague) was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history,
widely thought to have been caused by a bacterium named., Yersinia, pestis, but
recently attributed by some to other. diseases. The total number of deaths worldwide
was estimated at 75 million people, approximately 25-50 million of which occurred in
Europe.
In June 2013, health experts started emergency international meetings to devise
ways of combating a mysterious virus that has been described as the single biggest
worldwide public health threat. Officials and doctors gathered in Cairo to examine ways
of tackling the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), feared to be a new
pandemic deadlier than SARS. SARS refers to Severe acute respiratory syndrome. a
viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the SARS coronavirus (SARS-Co
V). Between November 2002 and July 2003, an outbreak of SARS in Southern China
caused an eventual 8,273 cases and 775 deaths reported in multiple '" countries. 1. The
MERS virus has displayed an alarmingly high fatality rate. It has caused death in about
60 percent of patients so far, with 75 percent of cases in men and most in people with
serious health conditions. There are currently no known treatments. Margaret Chan,
WHO director-general, previously called MERS a "threat to the entire world". There is
an old adage that states that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." This bill
is built upon such wisdom by seeking to strengthen national response and
preparedness for public health emergencies, such as those which result from natural
disasters and severe. weather, recent outbreaks and pandemics, bioterrorism, mass
casualties, chemical emergencies, and radiation emergencies.

Last February 12, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that
the novel disease is officially called Coronavirus Disease 19 or COVID-19, and the virus
infecting it is referred to as COVID-19 virus. The novel coronavirus is a new strain of
coronavirus that has not been previously identified in humans. The novel coronavirus
has caused severe pneumonia in several cases in China and has been exported to a
range of countries and cities.

On the report, Coronavirus in the Philippines: The Covid-19 risk, impact, and
measure by Praveen Dudu, our country witnessed a slower economic growth in the first
half of 2019, compared to 2018. The country saw a sustained economic growth of 6.3%
between 2010 and 2018, while the growth slowed down to 5.5% in H2 2019. The World
Bank estimates our country to witness full-year 2019 economic growth of 5.8%.

Preparedness refers to activities and measures taken in advance to ensure

effective response to the impact of hazards, including the issuance of timely and
effective early warnings and the temporary evacuation of people and property from
threatened locations. It also refers to pre-disaster activities, including an overall
strategy, policies, and institutional and management structures, that are geared to
helping at-risk communities safeguard their lives and assets by being alert to hazards
and taking appropriate action in the face of an imminent threat or the actual onset of a
disaster.
 In strengthening National Preparedness and response to Public Health
Emergencies enacted by the Senate and House of representatives of the Philippines in
Congress in order to secure the safety of the nation, the Secretary of Health shall
spearhead the creation of a national health strategy to address public health
emergencies. This strategy shall provide for integrated policy coordination and strategic
direction with respect to all matters related to national public health and medical
preparedness and execution and deployment of national response before, during, and
following public health emergencies. It secures the (a)capacity of ambulatory care
facilities, dental health facilities, and critical care service systems; (b) plans for
optimizing a coordinated and flexible approach to the medical surge and capacity of
hospitals, other health care facilities, critical care, and trauma care and emergency
medical systems; (c)taking into account the unique needs of individuals with disabilities
in a public health emergency; (d) take strategic initiatives to advance countermeasures
to diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or treat harm from any biological agent or toxin or any
chemical, radiological, or nuclear agent or 3 agents, whether naturally, occurring,
unintentional, or deliberate; (e) conduct periodic evaluations of national and local
preparedness and response capabilities which shall include drill~ and exercises to
ensure medical surge capacity for events.

For these reasons, I strongly agree with the government mandatory/compulsory

vaccination/immunization for COVID-19 for all Filipinos.

Firstly, the government has solid legal grounds to require mandatory vaccination
against COVID-19. To recapitulate, the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious
Diseases was created by virtue of Executive Order No. 168 s. 2014 aimed at
responding to and managing affairs concerning emerging infectious diseases in the
country. The IATF was created to educate the people on potential health crises and its
prevention, control and management to promote positive health behaviors.
Secondly, there is the negative impact of the pandemic to the Philippine
economy and the livelihood of ordinary Filipinos. In May 2020, Acting Socioeconomic
Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua projected that Covid-19 would lead to P2.2
trillion of losses to the Philippine economy, according to Inquirer.net. On February 16,
2021, the same source reported that due to the pandemic, the Philippines posted its
worst year-on-year gross domestic product numbers, as the economy shrunk by 9.5
percent. “It was the worst slump that the Philippines has experienced since shortly after
the end of the WW2,” the Inquirer.net said. Furthermore, tens of thousands of Filipinos
lost their jobs, especially in tourism, agriculture, manufacturing, and F&B sectors.
Thirdly, the Philippines should join the global efforts to eradicate or control
COVID-19. The country should do this because a universal response is needed to fight
the pandemic. To ease the financial burden of such mandatory mass vaccination, the
Philippines can take advantage of vaccines donated by other countries or access low-
cost loans offered international financial institutions, such as the Asian Development
Bank.
Finally, there is the tragic human cost of the pandemic. According to the JHU
CSSE COVID-19 Data , as of mid-February 2021, there were 550,000 COVID-19 cases
in the Philippines, with about 11,515 deaths. Unless controlled, there is the added threat
posed by the new variance of COVID-19. A compulsory mass vaccination against
COVID-19 will certainly stop the terrible loss of Filipino lives.