The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has asked the local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and Western Visayas to submit and update their vaccination marterlist, specifically the senior citizens, indigents, and informal settlers (IS) through the Vaccine Management System-Immunization Registry (VIMS-IR).
“VIMS-IR is a joint project between the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) which functions as citizen vaccination capture and automation; provider management and automation; supply chain management; and VIMS dashboarding, reporting, and analytics,’’ the DILG said in a statement.
DILG officer-in-charge (OIC) Bernardo C. Florece, Jr. stressed the need for compliance of the LGUs in the registration of prospective recipients, saying it is vital to ensure that all qualified citizens will be inoculated with the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) vaccine.
He stressed that the LGUs should “treat VIMS-IR as their ally in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.’’
“It is imperative that the LGUs of NCR, Regions 3, 4-A, and 6 are on board with the registration of vaccine recipients especially the senior citizens and indigents within their jurisdiction. We direct them to use VIMS-IR in doing so as this is the system devised by the government for this specific purpose,” Florece he said.
With the scarcity of the COVID-19 vaccines, Florece said that “diligent compliance to government advisories and policies such as the preparation, updating, and submission of the LGU Vaccination Masterlist through VIMS-IR, can spell a great difference.’’
He noted that such a step can help ease the vaccination process creating a seamless deployment down to the grassroots level.
“This may just be a simple list for some ngunit napakahalaga nito sa pagpapanatili ng maayos na sistema ng pagbabakuna sa bansa,” he added.
Florece said the National COVID-19 Task Force has vouched on the system and requested the DILG to ensure that all LGU Masterlists are updated and submitted through the VIMS-IR.
In an urgent DILG memorandum released on March 25, Florece urged all local chief executives (LCEs) to spearhead the production of the LGU Vaccination Mastelist for frontline health workers; senior citizens; and indigents, especially the IS.
The said memorandum marked March 31 as the deadline for the updating of the masterlist for senior citizens while on or before April 10, 2021, LGUs are required to integrate into the VIRM-IR the list of indigent vaccine recipients.
To ensure that LGUs will have an easier experience using VIMS-IR, Florece encouraged the LGUs to closely coordinate with their DICT counterparts “for needed technical assistance.”
“VIMS-IR is a relatively new system. Though navigation was made easier, LGUs must get the assistance of the people from DICT who developed it. Hinihikayat po natin ang mga pamahalaang lokal na makipag-ugnayan sa DICT,” Florece noted.
In the said memorandum, Florece said that the LGUs can communicate with the Data Resiliency for Ease of Access and Management (DREAM) Team of the DICT for technical assistance on the use of the system.
For other guidance on the use VIMS-IR, Florece said the LGUs can access tiny.com/VIMSIRdocs which contains training videos and materials including Webex training schedules; instructions to request for access; excel templates; and, past training-video recording with frequently asked questions (FAQs).