DILG deploys 50,000 cops, firemen to assist in COVID-19 vaccination
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government bared its plan to deploy over 50,000 police and fire protection personnel to "provide support and security" to the national vaccine rollout that will now include the A4 category next month.
The fourth priority group in the vaccination program against COVID-19 is slated to include frontline workers in essential sectors, including government personnel and private sector workers required to be physically present at their designated workplaces.
In a statement, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said that the presence of uniformed personnel was intended to ensure the smooth rollout of vaccines amid the government's mass vaccination efforts with some 16-million vaccines still expected to arrive in the next two months.
“Mass vaccination will be a big challenge to the government but with the help of our uniformed personnel, we aim to get as many of our countrymen and women vaccinated as efficiently and as soon as possible. This is the only way for us to put an end to this pandemic,” he said.
Año said that the uniformed personnel are directed to maintain minimum public health standards in vaccination sites and serve as vaccinators as required by the local government units and the Department of Health.
Of which, some 35,415 police personnel will provide security during the transport of vaccines nationwide while 13,840 PNP personnel will be tasked with securing various vaccination areas in the country.
To ensure the safety and health of the uniformed personnel to be deployed, the DILG said both the PNP and the BFP have continued their respective internal vaccination efforts, including:
- 14,082 PNP medical front-liners who have been inoculated with their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- 8,416 personnel who have received their second dose
- 6,298 BFP personnel who have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
- and 2,298 of them who have received their second dose.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Fire Protection has mobilized 2,390 fire personnel and 356 emergency medical service units in 1,150 identified warehouse or cold storage and vaccination sites nationwide to go with 733 fire trucks and 59 ambulances that have been prepositioned.
“Our DILG uniformed personnel will not only secure the vaccines but those with medical backgrounds will also be assigned to do medical tasks in our vaccination sites all over the country,” he said.
In addition, 8,936 personnel from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology nationwide have also been inoculated with their first dose, while 3,750 of them have received their second dose.
To date, 1,216,582 coronavirus infections have been recorded in the country, 53,614 of whom are still classified as active cases.
The Philippines is among the worst countries in the world when it comes to vaccinating people per population.
The national government has so far secured two official deals for COVID-19 vaccine supplies in the Philippines, one with Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac and another with the Serum Institute of India.
Watch this space for bite-sized developments on the vaccines in the Philippines. (Main image by Markus Spiske via Unsplash)
Health Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire says the general population may now get their second booster jab.
"We're just waiting for the release of implementing guidelines, then we'll start rolling out our second booster for the general population," she says. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
Amid questions on vaccines being administered, the Department of Health assures the public all doses are safe and effective as the “process of extending shelf life goes through thorough stability studies.”
“The government ensures that every vaccine that is injected with an extended shelf life has gone through studies, and is still safe and effective against COVID-19,” it adds.
Government must increase vaccination capacity across the Philippines in anticipation of a surge of COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant of the corona virus, Sen. Risa Hontiveros says.
She says local government units and the private sector can work together to put up more vaccination centers and deploy more vaccination teams to get more people inoculated against COVID-19.
"The active COVID cases have nearly doubled in three days. The positivity rate is almost four times the ceiling set by the World Health Organization. Huwag na nating hintayin na sobrang lumala pa ang sitwasyon bago tayo gumawa ng paraan para mapabilis ang ating pagbabakuna."
FDA chief Eric Domingo says that its agency has given emergency approval for the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.
The United States immunized around 900,000 children aged five-to-11 against Covid in the first week the Pfizer vaccine was authorized for them, a White House official says Wednesday.
Roughly 700,000 more have made appointments at pharmacies, White House Covid coordinator Jeff Zients tells reporters.
"The program is just getting up to full strength," he says, adding most of the shots were given in the last couple of days alone. — AFP
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