Malacañang on Tuesday rejected the suggestion of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to let the Red Cross and other civil humanitarian agencies transport COVID-19 vaccines in far-flung areas to avoid using military vehicles.
In a virtual press briefing, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the government won’t follow the advice of a “terrorist group” and will stick to its original plan to put the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in charge of vaccine delivery in far-flung areas.
The CPP earlier and its armed group, the New People’s Army (NPA), “strongly suggested” that COVID-19 vaccines not be transported in military vehicles.
“We have a rollout plan. That’s what we’re going to follow regardless of what the CPP-NPA says,” the Palace official said..
“They have freedom of expression, but they are tagged as a terrorist group. They can express their opinion but it won’t go further,” he added.
The CPP said transportation for COVID-19 vaccines must be clearly marked with a red cross over white background to avoid being mistaken as a military vehicle.
The communist group alleged that the military has been carrying out combat and psywar operations behind the veil of implementing COVID-19 restrictions.
The CPP also said the vaccine should be delivered by civilian groups whose personnel are “properly trained and who have the facilities to undertake such missions.”
President Rodrigo Duterte appealed to the CPP to allow COVID-19 vaccines to be transported “freely and safely” in far-flung areas once they become available, urging them to “kindly observe the rules of humanity.”
The CPP, in response, vowed that it won’t hamper the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines in guerrilla base areas.
“It is a matter of principle for the NPA to respect all humanitarian undertakings that benefit the masses,” the CPP said.
The AFP on Tuesday said all of its assets are ready to help the Department of Health in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in the country.
On Tuesday, the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases and the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 conducted a simulation on the arrival and transport of COVID-19 vaccines.
The exercise involved the government agencies and private organizations that will be responsible for the logistics of vaccine distribution.
It included customs clearance through the one-stop shop; loading from the airport; transport of vaccines to the cold chain storage facility; unloading, receiving and inspection of vaccines; storing at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM); preparation of vaccines for distribution; loading and delivery to various points of destination such as hospitals and health facilities; and unloading and acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines at the destinations.
The government expects delivery of 117,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine this month.
Given in two doses 28 days apart, these would be good for 58,500 individuals.
The simulation exercise started with the arrival of the vaccines at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City. The vaccines were then loaded into a van then brought to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City for storage.
At the RITM, a team inspected the vaccines.
“This process is important to ensure that the vaccines are in good condition,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said in a speech delivered at the RITM.
“The vaccines will be stored in ultra low freezers capable of storing the vaccines meeting a temperature range between -60 to -80 degrees centigrade,” Duque said.
Duque said the vaccines stored will later be distributed to hospitals.
“What we have done today is subject to review,” Duque said.
“We have a target. Customs clearance 30 minutes. Unloading 15 minutes. Transport 20 minutes. Receiving and inspection 15 minutes…allocated time of 120 minutes. Hopefully, this will be cut by half, 60 minutes,” Duque said. “If we can shorten it, so much the better.”
Duque said even in the actual distribution in the vaccination sites there will be an allocated time.
Earlier in the day, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said it was crucial to maintain the potency of the vaccines.
The country is expecting vaccines from the US firm Pfizer Inc and the UK’s AstraZeneca PLC from the COVAX Facility.
Pfizer’s vaccine requires a storage temperature of about minus 70 degrees Celsius while AstraZeneca’s needs only normal refrigerated conditions of about 2-8 degrees.
Vergeire said there will also be simulation activities in three COVID-19 referral hospitals — Philippine General Hospital in Manila, Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City, and Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital in Caloocan City.
She said hospitals are only given five days to use all doses allocated to them with the vials kept at rooms with temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees.
“Once the vials are opened, they have to be consumed within six hours,” Vergeire said.
Roque said the government was 100 percent ready for the arrival of the vaccines this month.
Several local government units also conducted simulation exercises in the past weeks.
Mayors Joy Belmonte of Quezon City, Oscar Malapitan of Caloocan City, and Toby Tiangco of Navotas City and presidential spokesman Harry Roque reminded the public the availability of vaccines does not mean health protocols will be relaxed or quarantine restrictions will be eased.
Roque said the government expects the inoculation in Metro Manila to start days after the first batch of vaccines to arrive in the middle of this month.
He could not say the exact date of arrival but said the government is ready to implement the vaccination program by Monday next week.
Metro Manila is under general community quarantine (GCQ) until Febr. 28.
Quezon City and Caloocan aim to vaccinate about 1 million of their constituents.
Tiangco said the vaccine is not a replacement for health protocols, which means “even if we are vaccinated we continue to wear face masks, we continue to observe social distancing, and we continue hand washing.”
Malapitan said the city needs at least 1,600 vaccinators for at least 1.1 million of its adult residents for a seven-day vaccination period. Caloocan has about 1.87 million residents including minors.
He said 54 vaccination centers have been identified in the city and a cold chain storage has been bought to store the vaccines it purchased from AstraZeneca, which are expected to arrive by the third quarter of the year.
Tiangco said Navotas also plans to buy vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna Inc.
Makati Mayor Abby Binay said the city government has procured 42 biomedical refrigerators and laboratory freezers to ensure proper storage of the vaccines.
“As we wait for the vaccines to arrive, the city government is preparing the vaccination sites, vaccine depots, and other logistic needs for cold chain management. I assure everyone that we are doing our best to achieve a 100 percent vaccination rate in Makati,” she said.
Binay said the vaccine refrigerators and freezers will be housed in a vaccine depot being built at the City Hall quadrangle.
The Makati Health Department aims to finish the preparation of the site next week, she said.
Residents and non-residents who work in Makati who will be vaccinated will undergo online registration, counseling, screening, vaccination, and post-vaccination monitoring.
In other developments:
• AirAsia Philippines is seeking approval from the government to transport COVID-19 vaccines in the country. The company is also seeking special authorization from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to participate in the roll out of the vaccines to far flung provinces in the country.
• The Bureau of Customs will take only 30 minutes to release COVID-19 vaccines, the country’s vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said. The bureau has established a “one-stop shop” to process the vaccine shipments upon their arrival in the country, where they will be quickly inspected while they are still inside the aircraft, Galvez said.
• Designated COVID-19 hospitals in Metro Manila will be the first to receive COVID-19 vaccines set to arrive in the country next week, a Department of Health official (DOH) said Monday. The Metro Manila Center for Health Development chief Dr. Corazon Flores said these hospitals include Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital in Tala, Caloocan; Philippine General Hospital in Manila; and the Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City. The National Kidney Transplant Institute's inclusion has yet to be finalized. Flores said their top priority will be 4,557 employees and health workers from PGH, 1,900 in Tala hospital, and 1,117 from the Lung Center. With Darwin G. Amojelar