The guidelines for the inoculation of healthcare workers’ families or those included under Priority Group A1 are now being established.
This followed the government’s approval on the request of medical communities to include their families in the vaccination coverage last May 27.
“Atin pong pinag-aaralang maigi dahil ang usapan naman talaga with our IATF officials, this will depend on the supplies or depend on the delivery of vaccines to our country,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in the May 28 Laging Handa public briefing.
“Kailangan lang po siguro nuclear family muna ang uunahin natin, dahil nga alam naman natin na this will all depend on the number of doses that we have right now,” Vergeire added.
The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) also welcomed the decision to vaccinate health workers’ immediate family members, while citing the risk that workers can acquire COVID-19 from unvaccinated individuals at their residences.
“Nangyayari po sa iba ‘pag uuwi sa bahay ay nag-a-agam-agam pa rin… kasi nga po [pagkauwi], wala pang bakuna ang kanilang mahal sa buhay o kasama sa bahay,” Dr. Benito Atienza, PMA president, said.
Sputnik V arrival
Around 50,000 Sputnik V vaccine doses are expected to be delivered tomorrow, May 30. These will be allocated to areas with increasing cases with “high burden of disease and highly populous.”
“Kakaunti lang ho kasi itong paparating na Sputnik V, mga 50,000 doses lang po, so siguro po mga dalawa hanggang tatlong lugar muna ang mabibigyan nitong mga bakunang ito,” Vergeire said.
The official said the 30,000 doses initially shipped to the country have been fully delivered to select areas in Metro Manila.
“Lahat po ay nai-administer na for the first and the second doses of these vaccines. Eto pong mga adverse events na tinatawag, wala po tayong naitala na severe or serious at mga namatay dito po sa Sputnik V na bakunang ito,” she said.
Meanwhile, the health department is monitoring several provinces amid a reported increase in their hospitalization rate such as Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Regions 2, 4A, 9, and Caraga.
The department said the cases have declined in Metro Manila, but an increase was seen in other provinces. The government is now studying the possible restriction easing in the Greater Manila Area or to escalate protocols in some provinces. – Report from Patrick de Jesus/AG-rir
