Lorenzana orders military hospitals to assist LGUs in vaccination

MANILA, Philippines — Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has ordered military hospitals in the country to assist local government units (LGUs) in implementing the government’s vaccination program.

The military hospitals include the 20 of the Philippine Army, eight of the Philippine Air Force, nine of the Philippine Navy, and the 11 unified area command hospitals, Lorenzana said on Monday during the weekly Palace briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the Philippines.

“In anticipation of the arrival of the huge volume of vaccines, I have alerted the military hospitals all over the country to assist the LGUs in the vaccination program,” Lorenzana said

Aside from this, Lorenzana said there are also 11 ships that can help in transporting the vaccines.

“They have a big refrigeration capacity if we are sending [vaccines] to our islands and we can use these ships. Another thing is our planes are also ready to transport from Manila to the provinces,” Lorenzana said.

Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the country’s vaccine manager, said the country would receive additional 99,600 doses of Moderna vaccine on June 29. The country is also expecting to receive over 13.3 million doses of various vaccines in July.

According to government data, as of June 27, a total of 10,065,414 vaccine doses have been administered across the country, of which 7,538,128 were first doses — that is, they had received their second dose.

Meanwhile, 2,527,286 individuals in the country have been fully vaccinated.

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