By Alec Go
A special adviser of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 on Saturday (Oct. 30) said they are eyeing a system to immediately administer vaccines requiring ultra low storage temperatures.
Dr. Ted Herbosa said in the Saturday Laging Handa briefing that the current strategy is focused on increasing allocation to regions outside the National Capital Region (NCR) as more vaccines arrive.
“Ang problems natin ngayon because most of the vaccines now are iyong Pfizer, Moderna, ay gagawa tayo ng system na tinatawag na just-in-time delivery, kasi matindi ang requirement for cold chain nitong mga current vaccines that we are holding,” he said.
“So the only solution we are finding is iyong tinatawag na on-time delivery na ‘pag nabigay sa inyong ang LGU [local government unit], ma-vaccinate ninyo kaagad sa mga taong mangangailangan,” he added.
The government reported earlier this week that the country has already received more than 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from procurements and donations, including those from the COVAX Facility.
The official said more vaccinators will be added to the ongoing immunization drive to include students of medicine, nursing, and dentistry. This is in line with the move to boost the rollout and meet the daily 1.5 million jabs target.
At least 70 million Filipinos are expected to receive a shot of COVID-19 vaccine by December “with all the adjustments and recalibration.”
“As of now, we have inoculated 58 million doses na sa ating mga kababayan and I think kalahati noon already is—more than half of that is fully vaccinated,” he said.
“So pataas ng pataas iyong rate natin, nasa 32% na tayo eh. So, hopefully makukuha natin iyong 50% fully vaccinated by the end of December,” he added.
Areas with alert level
Herbosa said among the factors considered in selecting areas for the expanded alert level implementation are the economic activities and the preparedness of concerned local government units.
He said there have been cases where LGUs have difficulty adopting the new policy which would require retraining and repurposing of response teams.
“Kakabit ng alert level system ay iyong tinatawag na localized lockdown, kailangan pwede kang mag-implement ng localized lockdown sa isang area ng may clustering at magdala ng mega swabbing at mega testing,” he said.
Aurora, Bacolod City, Negros Oriental, and Davao Occidental will be under alert level 4 for the first 14 days of November, while Metro Manila, Bataan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Iloilo City, Siquijor, Lanao del Norte, Davao City, Davao del Norte, and Baguio City will be under alert level 3. -rir
Watch the full interview here:
