Pediatric vaccination at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center. Image from PCMC
MANILA, Philippines — Individuals may now get their COVID-19 vaccines from the clinic of public and private doctors, and still for free, for the fourth national vaccination day to be launched this month.
This is after the government’s pandemic task force, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases (IATF) partnered with the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) for the COVID-19 vaccination program.
This partnership was announced by key IATF officials and the PMA on Tuesday morning. The IATF and the PMA are set to meet Tuesday afternoon to smoothen out the guidelines.
IATF deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon said this aimed to boost the government’s COVID-19 vaccination targets, which currently slowed down as less and less people are going to vaccination sites.
“Tingin natin lalo pa nating mapapaigting itong pagbabakuna. Medyo bumabagal ang ating pagbabakuna dahil mas mahirap na nating hanapin, medyo hindi na nakikita ng ating mga kababayan ang importansya ng pagbabakuna dahil bumababa na ang cases ng COVID-19,” he said in a press conference.
(We think this will further boost the vaccination program. Vaccinations are currently slowing down because some people are no longer going to vaccinations sites since cases are going down.)
“Dahil sa gagawin ng mga doctor, mailalapit natin sa ating mga kababayan ang bakuna lalo pa dahil magbabakuna na tayo ngayon sa mga clinic mismo ng ating mga bayaning doktor,” Dizon added.
(But because of this, the vaccination will be more accessible to people since their doctors can administer vaccines in their clinics.)
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said this initiative will “raise the vaccination to a higher level” as this will give the public more access to the vaccines.
“We are providing this as a way of access para sa kanilang mga pasyente. These are innovative ways in trying to ramp up vaccination,” she said in the same press conference.
PMA president Benito Atienza said the people would be more encouraged to get vaccinated as they would no longer have any excuse for not getting the vaccine.
He said this is the best time to get vaccinated since people are getting more confident in going to their doctors for their check-ups since COVID-19 cases are declining.
“Hindi na magiging sagabal or hindrance. Wala na silang dahilan. Kasi sinasabi dati na ayaw pumunta muna doon kasi ang daming nakapila, o walang oras kasi may trabaho. Ngayon, lahat ng oras, kahit saan ka pa, pwede kayo magpabakuna sa doctor,” Atienza said.
(The vaccination will no longer be a hassle. They no longer have any excuse in getting vaccinated because some were reluctant due to long queues and unavailability in their schedules due to work.)
Cabotaje said this initiative will focus on vaccinating and giving booster shots to people 18 years old and above.
If clinics have special facilities that can accommodate vaccines such as Pfizer, which require sub-zero storage, Cabotaje said they can administer vaccines to minors aged 12 to 17 and even those 5 to 11 years old.
“Medyo alalay muna sa 5 to 11 years old kasi kulang pa ‘yung ating mga bakuna. General rule is bibigyan yung mga 12 to 17 kung may capability at yung 18 yeas old and above ‘yung bibigyan ng bakuna,” she said.
(General rule is to give vaccines to 18 years old and above and those 12 to 17 years old if they have the capability.)
Atienza said they will still finalize the list of doctors and clinics that will participate in the initiative. The IATF and the PMA will meet this afternoon to smoothen out the guidelines.
So far, the Philippines has 63.6 million fully vaccinated adult individuals, some 10.5 million of which have already received their booster dose.
The government has likewise fully vaccinated 8.5 million minors aged 12 to 17 while over 900,000 children 5 to 11 years old have received their first dose of the vaccine.