Camarines Sur Representative Luis Raymund "LRay" Villafuerte on Saturday appealed anew to the key implementers of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination program to prioritize the accelerated training of personnel at the local-government level.
The training would be focused on the proper storage, handling and administration of the temperature-sensitive vaccine doses to avoid drug wastage and ensure the success of the program when the anti-COVID shots become readily available in the provinces, he said.
Villafuerte made his appeal after the World Health Organization (WHO) flagged the lack of trained people to give the anti-COVID shots in many low- and middle-income countries.
Alongside staging a nationwide information campaign to persuade people to get their anti-COVID shots once these become available, Villafuerte said: “The government should also ensure that the staff handling the vaccines in the communities are familiar with the hierarchy of priorities on who should get the vaccines; how these doses should be stored, especially in localities where there are no available cold storage facilities; and how to properly administer the shots to the target-beneficiaries."
"In CamSur, we already have a list of the priority beneficiaries across the province as well as the list of frontliners who are to administer the vaccines," Villafuerte, a former Camarines Sur governor, said.
"But our frontliners need to be properly trained on how to administer the shots. LGU (local government unit) staff should also be trained on the proper storage of the medicines,’’ he stressed.
“Another thing is that there are certain municipalities that have no adequate cold storage facilities to keep the vaccines,” he said.
The government is expected to roll out its inoculation drive in the provinces in the next quarter as vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. reported to President Duterte a week ago that 20 million doses of Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines are due for delivery in the April-June months.
According to the reported WHO study, while 85 percent of 128 countries had drawn up with their inoculation plans, there were only 30 percent trained people to give the shots, and that only 27 percent of the economies had drawn up public information campaigns.
As a result of the lack of training and information drives, important matters such as advocacy, community engagement and risk and safety communication “remain largely unaddressed,” the WHO also said.
"Because a majority of those to be targeted for vaccination will most probably get their doses in the second or third quarter, there's still enough time for the government to train personnel in the provinces on the proper handling and storage of the vaccines, and how to properly administer the jabs," Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte said the government needs to draw up and implement down to the cities and municipalities the guidelines on the safe and effective transport, storage and administration of the COVID-19 vaccines as soon as these arrive and are delivered to the provinces.
He said the government should also deal with the challenges encountered by countries that have already started their respective vaccination programs, such as the distrust over the vaccine, distrust with the implementing government, lack of facilities, limited vaccine supply, shipping delays due to border controls, and the rise of new COVID-19 variants.
Villafuerte said that in the Philippines, the would-be handling and storage of the vaccines would depend on which type of vaccine brands the LGUs would eventually receive as the government is in talks with various drug manufacturers.
"In CamSur, we are fully aware of who should get vaccinated first, but our problem is the immediate and proper training of personnel who will handle and administer the vaccines," Villafuerte said.
"To make sure their swift action would happen as ordered by President Duterte, we should also make sure that all personnel tasked to handle and administer the vaccines are adequately trained to either keep the drugs in storage facilities or to administer the anti-COVID shots," Villafuerte said.