Extra doses from 1st batch of COVID-19 shots could go to health workers of AFP, PNP — Duque
MANILA, Philippines — Health workers from the police and military may benefit from the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines that are expected to arrive in the Philippines in February, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Tuesday.
The country is anticipating the arrival of 117,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine within this month through the COVAX facility, an initiative led by the World Health Organization.
Healthcare workers are top priority for COVID-19 vaccination. The limited supply of vaccines can only cover 58,500 health frontliners as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine requires two doses within 21 to 28 days to ward off the COVID-19 virus.
Aside from the country’s main COVID-19 referral centers, the first tranche of Pfizer doses will also be distributed to local government hospitals and five private medical centers in Metro Manila as well as other DOH-designated hospitals.
Duque said excess doses from the batch arriving this month could be given to health workers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.
“If there are leftovers, it will be given to healthcare workers in the AFP, PNP because they’re included in the prioritization,” Duque said in a briefing at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.
Under a government priority list, uniformed personnel under "A4" (Frontline personnel in essential sectors including uniformed personnel and those in working sectors identified by the IATF as essential during Enhanced Community Quarantine), frontline medical workers are under "A1".
The health chief also said inoculating government officials such as vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. and testing czar Vince Dizon could help boost public trust in the government’s immunization program.
“Sasabay sila sa mga mauuna para syempre makita ng taumbayan na may tiwala tayo sa mga bakunang ituturok natin,” Duque said.
(They will be among the first ones who will be vaccinated so the public can see that we have trust on the vaccines that we will administer.)
READ: LIST: Priority population groups for COVID-19 vaccination
Vaccine simulation
A simulation exercise was conducted Tuesday in preparation for the anticipated arrival of the initial batch of COVID-19 vaccines this month.
Galvez, who leads the government’s vaccine procurement efforts, expressed satisfaction with the dry run, saying the exercise went faster than expected.
The government allotted 120 minutes for transfer of mock vaccines from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City where the jabs will be stored. But Galvez said it was completed in “more or less 50 minutes.”
In an interview on CNN Philippines, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines from the WHO may arrive on February 13 but stressed the date is still indicative, which means it may change. She added authorities are still waiting for the final confirmation from COVAX. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
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