MANILA, Philippines — The government is eyeing massive COVID-19 immunization activities early next year – to be done in two doses 21 days apart.
National Task Force against COVID-19 chief implementer and newly appointed vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. revealed this yesterday in his media presentation of the Philippine National Vaccine Roadmap.
“This is really our road to normalcy and recovery,” he said, adding it would be doubly challenging because it would be done twice 21 days apart.
The task force will present the roadmap to President Duterte for his approval at the meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) tomorrow.
Duterte formed the National Task Force for Vaccination last week to thresh out ways of ensuring an orderly conduct of nationwide immunization once a vaccine for COVID-19 becomes available.
Galvez said the task force has identified major stages in the implementation of the program as well as factors to consider for choosing the vaccine, like safety, sensitivity and efficacy “because some of the vaccines need cold chain refrigeration.”
“We also consider cost and the supply chain requirements because the handling of the vaccines is sensitive… then we have access to clinical trials and local and regional production and distribution,” he said.
“Last, (we also consider the) complexity of implementation. If we will have two doses… we will do it twice. The conduct of nationwide vaccination is like having national elections. After 21 days, it seems like we will have a re-election,” he said.
Galvez said the country has to plan carefully where to source the vaccine as several foreign groups are developing vaccines.
While Duterte has openly expressed preference for Chinese or Russian vaccines, Galvez said representatives from the United Kingdom, Singapore and India were also making offers.
“Most likely, the vaccine might be available by early next year,” he said.
Galvez said procurement is expected to start in January followed by production, shipment and storage. Actual distribution and vaccination are likely to begin in March.
According to Galvez, he has been consulting with vaccine experts and with members of the UP National Institutes of Health as well as representatives from the World Health Organization and the Asian Development Bank for the preparation and actual distribution of vaccines.
President Duterte earlier said he wanted a government-to-government arrangement for procurement of the vaccine. Finance Secretarty Carlos Dominguez III has recommended a multi-lateral approach involving the private sector.
The Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development as well as the Food Drug Administration will be the lead agencies in vaccine distribution.
Meanwhile, presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr defended the President’s decision to appoint Galvez, a military officer, as vaccine czar last Monday.
“It’s simple: because the vaccine operation will entail logistics. One needs to have good managerial skills and somebody used to management processes,” Roque said. “It’s more of a logistics challenge than a medical challenge.”
The DOH also voiced support for Galvez’s appointment. “We look forward to working closely with him in the rollout of safe and effective COVID 19 vaccine,” DOH said in a statement.
The DOH also reported that COVID-19 cases nationwide rose to 387,161 with the addition of 1,772 cases yesterday.
A total of 348,967 or 90.1 percent of the total cases have recovered from the illness, according to DOH. Just yesterday, a total 153 patients were included in the list of recoveries.
There are 30,876 active cases, 92.5 percent of whom are mild and asymptomatic.
Pampanga recorded the highest number of new COVID cases with 154, followed by Quezon City with 115 and Laguna with 83. The cities of Baguio and Manila also posted high cases with 70 and 69, respectively.
Additional 49 deaths brought to 7,318 the total number of COVID-related fatalities, representing 1.89 percent of the total cases. – Mayen Jaymalin
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