PNP has crucial role in national vaccination program, says Eleazar

LUCENA CITY –– A top official of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Monday stressed the important role of every policeman in the government’s vaccination program against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country.

Lieutenant General Guillermo Eleazar, PNP deputy chief for administration, said the police have a crucial role in providing security for the COVID-19 vaccines in transit from their place of origin and storage to different centers in the country.

Eleazar also stressed the importance of information dissemination in the government vaccination program.

“Information dissemination is very important. We must properly educate our personnel as well as the general population,” he told policemen in Police Regional Office 4 (PRO4) covering the Calabarzon region during its 30th founding anniversary celebration held in Camp Vicente Lim in Calamba City.

Eleazar said in the press statement posted by PRO4 on its Facebook page.

The government has earlier approved and ratified the “Philippine National Deployment and Vaccination Plan for Covid-19 Vaccines” – its mass immunization against SARS-CoV-2 as Filipinos hope for an end to the pandemic.

Among its salient points are the establishment of vaccination operation centers by local governments as soon as possible, appropriately equipped vaccine storage, and a master list of vaccine recipients.

On Feb. 7, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque announced that it would not take a month for the government to vaccinate all health workers against COVID-19. The government plans to start the vaccination on Feb. 15.

He disclosed that five million doses of vaccines from AstraZeneca would arrive in the country within February.

The Philippines would also receive 117,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to be inoculated to some 50,000 health workers with two doses each, Roque said.

LZB