Makati Med to offer drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination

Makati Medical Center Facebook photo

MANILA, Philippines — The Makati Medical Center (MMC) plans to offer a drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination as a way to boost the government’s inoculation rollout.

MMC Medical Director Dr. Saturnino Javier said Wednesday that the vaccination site would be set up at the Convergys Open Parking on Dela Rosa corner Salcedo Street where the hospital also offers other drive-thru services.

“We are going to introduce a drive-thru vaccination with our Convergys parking facility and we have already laid out the plans including where our patients will park when they need to get monitored after vaccination,” MMC Medical Director Dr. Saturnino Javier said in an online discussion with the media.

“Once we’ve been able to procure, Moderna for example, for a fee, that will apply for certain individuals but this will have to be regulated in accordance with the provisions of the national government and IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force). Details will come as we see fit to cascade it to the community but everything will still be online,” he added.

Javier said the MMC would only charge for vaccines that the hospital will procure and not for those provided by the national government.

Meanwhile, MMC President and Chief Executive Officer Pilar Nenuca Almira said the hospital would not make money from the initiative.

“We are not to make money from the help to vaccinate more people. Whatever is the price by which we will be acquiring vaccines, that is exactly just the price that we will be passing on to the patients or citizens. Also, it’s just cost recovery for the purposes of immunizing the vaccinees,” she added.

So far, the MMC has already vaccinated almost 98 percent of its staff, according to Javier. The remaining personnel have yet to be vaccinated because of vaccine brand preference or because they still had to undergo quarantine due to exposure to COVID-19 patients.

READ: Almost 98% of Makati Med staff vaccinated against COVID-19