By Rod Lagusad
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) launched the Vaccine Information Management System Immunization Registry (VIMS-IR) to speed up the vaccination process in the country.
The city of San Juan was chosen to be the pilot city of the new system because of its organized vaccination process.
San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora disclosed that under the new system, the registration, information and consent of the patient, the actual and post vaccination, and the report for the Department of Health (DOH) are all now digital.
“Sapagkat upon registration pa lang ng ating mga mamamayan for the vaccination, lahat ng finill-up nila online will now go through our digital system developed by DICT. Ibig sabihin pagdating pa lang ng pasyente rito o ng ating mga mamamayan, alam na natin ano ang sakit niya, ano ang comorbidity niya, kung ano ang physical condition niya [Since upon registration, our constituents for the vaccination have already filled out the items online, they will now go through our digital system developed by DICT. This means that when the patients or our constituents come in, we already know their disease, comorbidity, physical condition),” Mayor Zamora detailed.
According to the San Juan local government, from 20 minutes, it will only take 10 minutes from the registration to the actual vaccination and because the city has its own online system it was integrated to DICT’s VIMS-IR.
DICT Sec. Gringo Honasan explained that they are following a mapping system to know the next area where the system will be launched. Coordination with the private sector is being done to make sure that the internet connection in vaccination centers have a good signal.
“Uunahin natin ‘yung pinakamalayo, pinakamahirap, pinakamaliit, ‘yun talagangangangailangan.
Priority system natin is not going to be driven by partisan political motives. [We will prioritize the farthest, poorest, smallest, and the ones most in need. Our priority system is not going to be driven by partisan political motives],” Sec. Honasan laid out.
DICT Usec. Manny Caintic also said that the new system will help healthcare workers who are assigned in vaccination centers to have more time to rest or to do other tasks such as contact tracing because it lessens the documentation.
For his part, National Task Force against COVID-19 Deputy Chief Implementer Sec. Vince Dizon stressed that the system was being developed by DICT for quite a time now before it was launched. The new system will be a big help in the vaccination program of the government.
Local government units have the option to use the whole system or integrate their own system to that of DICT.
Meanwhile, Sec. Dizon said that members of the media will be now included in the A4 priority list. Initially, media practitioners were not in the list recommended.
“Nakausap ko mismo si Sec. Karl Chua kahapon at ire-revise nila ang listahan na kasama na ang media sa A4. Kaya importante kayong mga media na maisama kayo iyan kasi ngayon frontlines kayo. So kailangan talaga maisama kayo sa A4 para mabakunahan na rin kayo. [I talked to Sec. Karl Chua himself yesterday and they will revise the list to include members of the media in A4. That’s why it is important that media people be included since you are in the frontlines now. So there is really a need to include you in A4 to have you vaccinated],” Sec. Dizon urged.
