"Perhaps the Department of Health can help."
It appears that a well-thought out plan and preparations are in place for the rollout of the country’s COVID-19 mass vaccination program.
We strongly hope it all translates to an efficient and just distribution of the vaccines throughout the country to arrest the continued spread of coronavirus.
We are pinning our hopes on the leadership of vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. to accomplish such a gargantuan mission with everyone’s help and cooperation.
We are confident there will not be a repeat of the chaos and corruption that ensued in the implementation of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP), particularly the leakages in the distribution of the initial P100 billion by barangay officials.
Unlike the millions of pesos in social amelioration cash that end up in the hands of unscrupulous barangay officials, the COVID-19 vaccine must reach those poorest of the poor who needed it most at the right time.
The handling and distribution of the vaccines require military precision from the moment they arrive from the COVAX facility of the World Health Organization (WHO).
President Duterte could not have designated a more able vaccine czar.
The first 117,000 doses of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine will reportedly be shipped within this month.
They must be properly stored in a cold chain and administered within a certain period, starting with healthcare workers and other government frontliners responsible for mounting the vaccine rollout in the coming months.
Next to be inoculated will be members of the vulnerable sector, including 10 million senior citizens and over 13 million indigent Filipinos.
Galvez said the government also plans to give the shots to “economic frontliners,” as well as Armed Forces personnel.
Galvez said the government projects to finish vaccinating its target of 50 to 70 million Filipinos within the last three months of 2021.
The government hopes to secure at least 148 million doses of coronavirus vaccines for this year, even as supply agreements and contracts are being finalized within the coming weeks.
Galvez said the COVID-19 Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (CODE) has taken a look-see of the preparations by the various local government units (LGUs) and private partners in anticipation of the arrival of the vaccines.
The secretary said that the LGUs have been preparing for the implementation of the Philippine National Deployment and Vaccination Plan approved by President Duterte on the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for COVID-19.
Various LGUs in Metro Manila have been running simulation exercises to rehearse their plans for storing, transporting, and distributing vaccines in their communities.
We believe other LGUs have the same sense of urgency and serious preparations for the mass vaccination program.
Department of Health Sec. Francisco Duque has made his usual photo ops, visiting vaccine storage sites of LGUs. Good job!
Needless to say, the country’s upcoming inoculation program needs everyone’s cooperation in order to put an end to the COVID-19 crisis.
To help ensure that the horrors of the SAP distribution are not repeated, an effective nationwide information campaign is needed to update the people on the vaccination program.
Perhaps, the DOH officials can help along that line.