MANILA, Philippines — Cops under the national police were reminded Wednesday to escort and secure the arriving coronavirus doses as the government gears up for its national vaccination program.
Interior Undersecretary Bernardo C. Florece Jr., a member of the Task Group Supply Chain and Logistics, said in a statement that the PNP is expected to be a constant presence in accordance with the national government’s vaccination plan, "primarily to secure and protect the COVID-19 vaccines and the team that will be administering them."
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He also said that according to the Philippine National Deployment and Vaccination Plan, local officials such as barangay captains and barangay safety officers such as barangay tanods are also called, together with the PNP, to aid in the vaccination, calling the injection doses "precious as gold."
“The national vaccination program aims to save lives and will put an end to this pandemic. We direct the PNP to be in close coordination with the LGUs so that these vaccines are secured and protected,” he said.
By Monday, February 15, the national government plans to begin COVID-19 vaccinations of frontline healthcare workers with the initial batch of some 117,000 doses of vaccines from American pharmaceutical firm Pfizer-BioNTech. In the list of priority beneficiaries, the National Task Force Against COVID-19 aims to inoculate first around 1.4 million workers in the healthcare sector.
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Earlier Tuesday, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III suggested that police and military personnel, who are fifth in the order of priority beneficiaries, could be inoculated with extra doses from this first batch of vaccines.
To recall, members of the Presidential Security Group, composed of both police and military, already took illegal and smuggled vaccines that did not yet have the green light from the country's Food and Drug Administration. Government officials defended the move, saying it was done to protect the president from possible coronavirus transmission. The issue has since gone unaddressed, with no less than presidential spokesperson Harry Roque tagging it as a closed issue and urging the public to "stop" discussions on it.
According to Florece, local officials such as barangay captains and barangay safety officers such as barangay tanods are also called, together with the PNP, to aid in the vaccination.
“We need all the help that we can get in this pandemic, especially with the upcoming vaccinations in our country so our PNP, together with barangay leaders and tanods, we hope for the public's cooperation and unity," Florece said.
The Department of Health in its latest case update Monday afternoon reported that the national caseload had breached 540,000.
— Franco Luna