Baguio investing in equipment to store COVID-19 vaccines

BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — With Baguio on the list of cities that will first get coronavirus vaccines because of high infections, the city government is investing in refrigeration equipment to store vaccines with different temperature requirements that it will buy from pharmaceutical sources cleared by the Food and Drug Administration.

“Not every Filipino can be vaccinated immediately. My best-case scenario is that the government can immunize 60 percent of the population [in 2021]. We need 80 percent to be vaccinated so the majority will no longer be carriers and the virus can be contained,” Mayor Benjamin Magalong said recently.

“By 2022, maybe 30 percent would still need vaccination [to achieve] that result,” he said. “We expect a long enduring battle so we must be prepared.”

In a Dec. 15 briefing, the Department of Health (DOH) said the city’s poor and vulnerable sectors, including front-line health workers, would be given priority when the vaccines become available, possibly in March next year.

The brand of vaccines to be allocated in the provinces will depend on the type of cold storage facilities available in these areas, according to Dr. Ruby Constantino, DOH director in Cordillera.The DOH is also concerned about improving public communication to motivate beneficiaries and track their movement “because everyone needs two shots of the vaccine within a 21-day cycle,” Constantino said.

Vaccination would “not be conducted door-to-door,” she said, adding that it would need to be efficient since the government wanted the process to be accomplished in seven days.

—Vincent Cabreza