MANILA, Philippines — COVID-19 vaccines will soon be available in doctors' clinics, officials said Tuesday as the government looks for ways to bring jabs closer to people.
The government’s pandemic task force partnered with the Philippine Medical Association to make life-saving vaccines more accessible to the public.
Related Stories
“We will now allow them to do the vaccination in their clinics kasi ang problema natin mahirap nang hanapin ‘yung iba pa, either nag-iisip na magpabakuna o walang time magpabakuna, those who do not see the urgency,” Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said in a briefing.
(We will now allow them to do the vaccination in their clinics. The problem is it’s hard to find those who have yet to be vaccinated, either still thinking whether to get vaccinated or not or those who are too busy to get jabbed—those who do not see the urgency.)
“This partnership is a way of access para sa kanilang pasyente na nagpapakonsulta sa kanila (for the patients who consult them)… It’s an innovative way of trying to ramp up vaccination,” she added.
The partnership came ahead of the fourth round of the government’s massive COVID-19 immunization push on March 10 to 12.
According to Cabotaje, the initiative will focus on inoculating and administering boosters to people aged 18 and above.
She added that vaccine brand allocation will depend on a clinic’s cold chain capability. Those in hospitals with special storage facilities may be given jabs made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, which must be stored at ultra-low freezing temperatures.
The Philippines earlier tapped pharmacies and clinics such as Healthway and QualiMed Health Network as vaccination sites.
Since March 2021, over 63.6 million Filipinos have completed immunization against COVID-19.