The Department of Health (DOH) expressed hope that it will be able to achieve its target of vaccinating at least 15 million Filipinos during the three-day national coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination drive set from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1.
“We are doing everything that we can so that this can be successful and we can reach our average or our targets,” said DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Saturday, Nov. 20.
If they will not be able to achieve such a number, Vergeire said they are expecting to reach at least 70 percent of their target.
“Ito pong 15 million na tina-target po ng ating gobyerno para sa mga araw na ito, kung hindi man po natin maabot at makaabot man tayo, I mean 50 to 70 percent that is already good enough (This 15 million jabs that our government is targeting for these days, if we can't reach that---- I mean, if we only reach about 50 to 70 percent ---that is already good enough),” she said.
“Pero ang pinakamaganda po dito, iyang target na iyan kasi, kung maaabot po natin, mas dadami na po ang bakunado sa ating bansa (But the best thing about it, if we will be able to reach our target, more people will be vaccinated in our country) and the protection will be there,” she added.
Vergeire said that the DOH, together with other concerned agencies, are currently preparing for the conduct of the said event.
“Nakikipag-ugnayan na po tayo sa lahat ng ating (We are already in coordination with all our) partner agencies, among our private sectors, development partners and local governments,” she said.
The DOH spokesperson reiterated her call on those people who are interested to volunteer to help during the vaccination drive.
“Kami po ay nanawagan (We are appealing), because we will need about 30,000 to 50,000 vaccinators among the 10,000 vaccination sites that will be identified. So ito po ay purely voluntary (So, this is purely voluntary),” she said.
“Kung kayo po ay nais na tumulong sa ating gobyerno para maipataas pa po ang antas ng ating pagbabakuna, you can just register para po kayo po ay makasama namin sa effort na ito (If you want to help our government to raise the level of our vaccination, you can register so that you can join us in this effort),” she added.
READ: DOH calls on volunteers for 3-day national vaccination drive
The government will provide allowances or incentives for those people who will volunteer to help, said Vergeire.
“This is a voluntary effort, so kung sakali pong may incentive tayo, baka mga allowance o di kaya ay pakain lang po ang maibigay natin sa ating mga kababayan na tutulong sa atin (This is a voluntary effort, so just in case we have an incentive, maybe allowances or maybe we can only give food to citizens who will help us),” she added.
The DOH previously said it is looking for additional health screeners, vaccinators, post-vaccination monitor personnel, health educators, registration personnel, encoder, and data consolidators.
For those who are interested in volunteering, you may register through this link: tinyurl.com/3fxytrjm. For more information, check out the National Vaccination Operation Center advisory here: bit.ly/BayanihanBakunahanVolunteers.