The government is grateful for the proposed use of church facilities as possible sites for the government's vaccination program against the new coronavirus disease.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said they welcome the offer of the bishops even as he assured the nation of the government's preparations for the vaccine rollout.
(OPS / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
"Nakahanda naman po ang mga plano (The plans are ready) although we welcome the offer of the Catholic churches. Siyempre po (Of course) the more facilities we have, the better," he said during a televised press briefing.
Roque noted that the government has finalized its vaccination plans, including how to distribute coronavirus vaccines to Filipinos. "Kumpleto po ang plano ng DOH at ng ating National Task Force kung paano mararating ang lahat ng mga Pilipino kahit nasaan sila (The plan of the DOH and our National Task Force on how to reach all Filipinos no matte where they are is complete)," he said.
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President Archbishop Romulo Valles has reportedly offered the church facilities as vaccination sites to help the government in the rollout of the vaccines set next month. Valles recognized the the immunization program would be massive and very challenging.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier mentioned the key role of local government units in the government's immunization drive. Given the anticipated arrival of the vaccines in February, the lgus have been advised to prepare the master list of vaccine recipients and identify vaccination centers in their areas.
The government aims to procure 148 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from various suppliers abroad to inoculate more than half of the country's population this year. The country's vaccine supplies will so far come fro Novavax, Sinovac Biotech, AstraZeneca and Moderna.
Vaccines that require extreme cold temperature will be deployed in Metro Manila and other urban areas while those that require standard refrigeration temperature will be distributed to other areas. Frontline health workers, seniors, poor citizens, and uniformed personnel will get the first doses.