Medical personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) will augment the vaccination teams of the local government units (LGUs) as the country aims a 70 percent total population target this year, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary Eduardo Año said Wednesday, Oct. 27.
In a DILG, Department of Health (DOH) and National Task Force COVID-19 meeting, Año directed the PNP, BFP and BJMP to deploy manpower and resource assets to support LGUs vaccination and to initiate communication campaigns aligned with the LGUs' Communication Plan to convince people to get COVID-19 jabs.
In cases of vaccine negligence or lack of foresight by the LGUs and their personnel, Año directed the PNP to conduct an investigation and submit the results to the DILG.
“By ramping up the COVID-19 vaccination program, we can save lives, accelerate and boost the economy. Let us work together to finally end of COVID-19 woes,” Año said.
As of October 24, the DILG said that 55.71 million COVID-19 doses have been administered in the country of which 30 million individuals had their first doses and 25.71 million got their second doses and are fully vaccinated.
Año also urged the provinces to distribute to their component cities and municipalities their vaccine supplies within three days from the date of delivery to avoid wastage.
He added that the receiving cities and municipalities should administer the vaccines to the qualified recipients immediately and within 15 days from the date of the transfer.
“Now that we have a steady supply of vaccines, we need to ensure the timely distribution and administration of available vaccines not only to prevent wastage of resources but also to achieve population protection by year-end,” he added.
In cities and municipalities that do not have enough storage facilities with cold chain temperature requirements, Año said the provinces should serve as storage hubs provided that
COVID-19 vaccines for first doses are utilized within seven days and on schedule for the second doses.
In a separate briefing, DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya on the issue of house-to-house visit explained that it is more of a “demand generation’’ scheme meaning that this is conducted to determine and convince the unvaccinated people to get the COVID-19 jabs immediately.
Previously house-to-house visit is done to bedridden individuals and people who are unable to leave their residences to have them vaccinated.
The DILG spokesperson noted that mobile vaccination is where buses and vans are sent to the barangays mostly in secluded areas to have people inoculated in these areas. (Chito A. Chavez)