Thirty-four hospitals in the country will receive the first batch of 117,000 doses of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) vaccines from the World Health Organisation-led COVAX Facility due to arrive in the country this month.

Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said of these recipient-hospitals, 35 are in the National Capital Region, one in Cebu, and one in Davao.

"These hospitals were given the directives they should be able to submit to us the verified list of vaccinees plus the quick substitution list (QSL)," she said in a virtual forum held on Monday, February 15.

"The feedback given to us is most of our hospitals were already able to submit their complete lists. There are some hospitals yet to complete their QSL," she added.

Vergeire noted that all the 34 hospitals "are eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccines”, one of which is the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila.
In the same forum, PGH Director Dr. Gerardo "Gap" Legaspi expressed their readiness for the arrival of the vaccines.

"As far as the people are concerned, we are all set, I think, for whatever vaccines come requiring ultra low freezer we are ready for that," he said.
Legaspi said their pre-registration activities netted a 94-percent registration among their personnel, which is higher than the result of their initial survey, wherein only 74 percent have agreed to get immunized versus COVID-19. 

"It appears that there was increased confidence when it was revealed to be Pfizer vaccine. The acceptance rate went up," he said.

Part of their preparation is the conduct of simulation exercise, according to the PGH official. 

"We have a grand simulation (today). Last week,we also had a simulation," PGH spokesperson Dr. Jonas del Rosario said in a radio interview.

"The plan is to inoculate close to 1,000 a day...More or less PGH has 5,500 vaccinees. We plan to finish it within one week," he added.