DOH: Covid-19 vaccination sites’ back-up list must be 20% of total recipients

MANILA, Philippines — Covid-19 vaccination sites should have a quick substitution list (QSL) that must contain at least 20 percent of its total number of vaccine recipients in order to make sure non-wastage of the precious jabs, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they already instructed vaccination sites supervisors regarding the QSL or a back-up list of substitutes for original beneficiaries who might refuse to receive the shots or won’t show up on inoculation day.

“We are pegging it, gusto natin meron tayo at least 20 percent. Wala po tayong basehan sa 20 percent, pero gusto lang po natin makasigurado na kung sakali dumating tayo doon sa day of vaccination and we will have refusal, at least we have this reserved 20 percent,” she said in an online press conference when asked about the number of vaccine beneficiaries who should be included in a QSL.

(We are pegging it at 20 percent. We don’t have a basis for the 20 percent, but we just want to be sure that we will have reserved beneficiaries in case some people will refuse to have the vaccines on the inoculation day itself.)

For example, if a vaccination site will have 800 vaccine recipients for a day, its QSL should contain the names of 200 other individuals who can be contacted if not enough people would arrive on the day of inoculation, according to Vergeire.

Vergeire said “standards” on who should be included in the QSL are still being finalized, but that it should also come from the list of vaccine recipients-priorities.

Malacañang earlier said that the first batch of Covid-19 vaccines from the global vaccine sharing scheme Covax is expected to arrive in the country by mid-February. The initial shipment from the procurement pool would be 117,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech jabs, which would be given to healthcare workers in select hospitals.

Malacañang also said the government is ready to launch its Covid-19 vaccination drive by next week, although it has not provided an exact date of when the coronavirus vaccines will arrive in the country.

Vergeire noted that initial schedule for the arrival and rollout of vaccines remains tentative.

“Kapag sinabi nating tentative, ‘yan po ay tentative schedule pa lang, wala pa tayong confirmed dates as to when it going to start. But definitely, pagdating ng bakuna, after two to three days we will start the deployment already,” she said.

(When we say tentative, we don’t have confirmed dates yet on when it is going to start. But definitely, we will start the deployment of the vaccines two to three days after they arrive in the country.)

KGA