Seeking to actively take part in the government’s vaccination program, the Department of Education (DepEd) is expected to issue a memorandum that will lay down the guidelines on how the education frontliners nationwide “can effectively engage” and help out in the drive to address vaccination hesitancy among the Filipinos.
This was disclosed by DepEd Task Force COVID-19 (DTFC) Chairperson and Undersecretary for Administration Alain Del Pascua during a town hall meeting on government’s inoculation program for school health personnel held on May 18.
“Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones will soon issue a memorandum that will provide details as to how our personnel can effectively engage for the implementation of the vaccination program,” he said, disclosing the DepEd’s plan to “further heighten” the country’s vaccination campaign.
“This town hall as well as your close involvement is an essential activity that will support our schools in complying with the said memorandum.”
The DepEd and the Department of Health (DOH) jointly conducted the first town hall meeting in preparation of the vaccine roll-out for the A4 priority group.
During the meeting, medical experts tackled the national vaccination deployment plan, vaccine development, selection, and approval process.
It also addressed public concerns on vaccine acceptance and how school health personnel and teachers can participate in communicating key messages of the immunization program, the DepEd noted.
DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III urged the participants to join the vaccine cluster and help spread right information on the government’s vaccination program .
“Nakasalalay sa tagumpay ng bakuna laban sa COVID-19 ang tiwala ng ating mamamayan sa halaga ng bakuna bilang instrumento ng pagpapanatili ng magandang antas ng pampublikong kalusugan (The success of the COVID-19 vaccine depends on our people's confidence on the importance of the vaccine as an instrument of maintaining a good level of public health),” he said.
Director Lope B. Santos III of the Bureau of Learner Support Services (BLSS), meanwhile, announced that the more virtual workshops and meetings will be conducted to reach out to more DepEd personnel.
The DepEd announced that various national and local webinars will also be conducted as part of the Department’s Vacc2School: Ligtas na Bakuna Para sa Balik-Eskwela! campaign, which aims to inform and engage the stakeholders in the promotion of vaccination and other related policies to mitigate COVID-19.
The town hall meeting for DepEd’s school health personnel was initiated in partnership with the DOH, Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (PSMID), Explain, Explain, Explain by the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), and the National Task Force on COVID-19.
The DepEd said those school health personnel who failed to join the meeting could watch it at their own pace and convenience as a recording of the town hall meeting will be uploaded in DepEd Learning Management System (LMS).