Health workers of 4 Metro Manila hospitals will be first to get COVID-19 jabs
MANILA, Philippines — Healthcare workers from four COVID-19 referral hospitals in Metro Manila will be the first recipients of COVID-19 vaccines that are expected to arrive in the country this month, the country’s vaccine czar said Wednesday.
Secretary Carlito Galvez, who is vaccine czar, said medical frontliners and hospital staff of the Philippine General Hospital, Jose Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium, East Avenue Medical Center and Lung Center of the Philippines will get the first COVID-19 shots.
“Afterwards, we will also inoculate health workers of other COVID-19 referral hospitals in different Metro Manila cities, Cebu City and Davao City,” Galvez said in Filipino.
Other public and private hospitals treating COVID-19 patients will also receive jabs from government, Galvez said but he said the workers "major public hospitals" will be prioritized because of limited supply.
The Philippines is expected to receive 117,000 doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer/BioNTech this month through the COVAX facility.
The country may also get at least 5.5 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine through the World Health Organization-led facility
Under COVAX, healthcare workers will be prioritized in the distribution of vaccine. This will then be expanded to cover vulnerable groups such as the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions.
Priority groups for the government’s immunization program include frontline health and government workers, senior citizens, indigent population and uniformed personnel.
900,000 more Pfizer doses
The government will request for 900,000 more doses of Pfizer vaccine through COVAX.
“The arrangement with COVAX states that if we can have a submission for additional 900,000 to make it one million. We will do that. We are now preparing the letter. We will submit it before February 14,” Galvez said.
The Philippines is aiming to secure a total of 146 to 148 million vaccine doses to inoculate 70 million this year alone. The government expects to execute definitive supply agreements with pharmaceutical companies by mid-February.
Only Pfizer and AstraZeneca have so far received emergency use authorization from the country’s Food and Drug Administration.
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