Malacañang is hoping that the government’s established schedule for COVID-19 vaccine rollout in February will be followed.
The Palace explained on Thursday the process in distributing the vaccines against COVID-19 once they arrive in the country.
According to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, ordinary vaccines from suppliers abroad requiring 2 to 8 degrees and -20 degrees temperature for cold storage facility will be brought to DOH-rented private warehouses or to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
The vaccines will be transported from the warehouse to regional hubs and then to the City and Provincial Health Offices. This will be followed by the turnover to implementing units such as hospitals and rural health units for the actual vaccination to beneficiaries.
Vaccines requiring -70 degrees temperature or ultracold storage facilities will be brought to rented private warehouses and will be transported directly to implementing units for immediate administration.
Sec. Roque clarified that the scenarios he presented may differ, considering the services that will be provided by vaccine manufacturers “such as, but not limited to direct distribution to the service delivery sites and present distributors in the country.”
Meanwhile, the quarantine classifications that will soon be announced will still be based on data.
“It’s still the attack rate and the critical care capacity. So far, dalawang rehiyon lang po ang nasa moderate or papalapit na ng moderate iyong isa (So far, only two regions are in the moderate or nearing moderate [level]),” Sec. Roque stated.
“In principle, magkakaroon po talaga tayo ng new normal. Pero hanggang ngayon po hinihimay-himay pa rin kung ano iyong mga do’s and don’ts sa mga areas na ito (In principle, we will have a new normal. But the do’s and don’ts for the said areas are still being evaluated),” he added. – Report from Mela Lesmoras
