PNP assets ready to assist in COVID-19 jabs' delivery to regions — Eleazar
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police on Thursday said it is ready to assist in transporting COVID-19 vaccines outside Metro Manila.
In a statement, PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said assets of the police force's maritime group and choppers of the Special Action Force are on standby, should their help be needed.
These, he said, can bring the jabs to islands and other far-flung areas per the directive of Interior Secretary Eduardo Año.
PNP's Maritime Group has nearly 200 floating assets, while the SAF has four helicopters for the said purpose.
"I also directed all commanders to prepare all the vehicles that could be used to prepare deployment and security plan for our personnel," Eleazar added, "who would assist in the transportation of vaccines and in securing vaccination sites."
The country is into its inoculation efforts for nearly three months now, with 3.3 million doses since administered.
By May 18, figures from the Department of Health showed 786,528 Filipinos fully vaccinated, and 2.5 million with their first dose.
Government has faced calls to fast-track its vaccinations. Officials have set a goal of 50 to 70 million inoculated this year to achieve herd immunity.
Eleazar said the PNP is in coordination with the DOH, the Armed Forces of the Philippines as well as other agencies for the quick delivery of the jabs.
He also sought to assure that cops would "be up to the task" of safely transporting the much-needed vaccines.
"Even since the start of the rollout of vaccines in the country, we have conducted simulation exercises and workshops for our police in the transport and distribution," he said in Filipino.
On Wednesday, Eleazar said too that he has instructed provincial and regional PNP directors to work with the DOH and identify police camps that could be used as inoculation sites.
Health authorities have reported that vaccinations are ongoing in some 3,850 vaccination sites. Many have since urged government to increase this number, specifically on places most accessible to people.
The national government has so far secured two official deals for COVID-19 vaccine supplies in the Philippines, one with Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac and another with the Serum Institute of India.
Watch this space for bite-sized developments on the vaccines in the Philippines. (Main image by Markus Spiske via Unsplash)
Health Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire says the general population may now get their second booster jab.
"We're just waiting for the release of implementing guidelines, then we'll start rolling out our second booster for the general population," she says. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
Amid questions on vaccines being administered, the Department of Health assures the public all doses are safe and effective as the “process of extending shelf life goes through thorough stability studies.”
“The government ensures that every vaccine that is injected with an extended shelf life has gone through studies, and is still safe and effective against COVID-19,” it adds.
Government must increase vaccination capacity across the Philippines in anticipation of a surge of COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant of the corona virus, Sen. Risa Hontiveros says.
She says local government units and the private sector can work together to put up more vaccination centers and deploy more vaccination teams to get more people inoculated against COVID-19.
"The active COVID cases have nearly doubled in three days. The positivity rate is almost four times the ceiling set by the World Health Organization. Huwag na nating hintayin na sobrang lumala pa ang sitwasyon bago tayo gumawa ng paraan para mapabilis ang ating pagbabakuna."
FDA chief Eric Domingo says that its agency has given emergency approval for the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.
The United States immunized around 900,000 children aged five-to-11 against Covid in the first week the Pfizer vaccine was authorized for them, a White House official says Wednesday.
Roughly 700,000 more have made appointments at pharmacies, White House Covid coordinator Jeff Zients tells reporters.
"The program is just getting up to full strength," he says, adding most of the shots were given in the last couple of days alone. — AFP
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