LGUs need adjustment period to cope with vaccine supply influx -- governors' group
By Chito Chavez
Local government units (LGUs) need more time gain ground as the national government had set its sight in ramping up the country’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination drive, the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) announced Friday, Nov. 5.

LPP President and Marinduque Governor Presbitero Velasco Jr. explained that many LGUs are used to getting only a small number of COVID-19 vaccine doses so it would take them time to manage a big bulk of supply.
“Nag-aadjust pa nga. Nasanay kasi po dati na kakaunti ang supply na dumarating (They are still adjusting. They were used to getting few vaccine supplies before),’’ Velasco said in an interview over GMA News.
The LPP head's remarks came after Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary and National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) Chairperson Myrna Cabotaje chided some LGUs for their supposed lack of sense of urgency in the vaccination program.
Velasco pointed out that a number of localities are still in the midst of hiring more vaccinators and preparing their cold storage facilities to boost their respective immunization drives.
He also stressed the problem of ‘low-rank’ municipalities that are not equipped with the logistics and resources to make the adjustments for the influx of COVID-19 vaccines in their localities.
According to Velasco, the national government should have consulted with the LGUs regarding their ramped up vaccination programs since the distribution of vaccines to the localities "is irregular," which affected their inoculation efforts.
On Thursday, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said the national government aims to conduct a three-day ‘national vaccination’ this month to train LGUs to conduct massive vaccination activities.
He noted that some towns and municipalities are inept in conducting ‘massive mobilizations on inoculation.