Gov’t eyes integrating COVID-19 vaxxing with routine immunization

A senior receiving her second COVID-19 booster jab in San Juan City in May 2022. (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — The National COVID-19 Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) is looking into the integration of new COVID-19 vaccines with routine immunization for other diseases, the Department of Health (DOH) said Saturday.

The DOH said these are just among the strategies the NVOC under the leadership of DOH spokesperson Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire in a bid to boost the vaccine uptake in the country.

“During this transition period, the NVOC and vaccination sites will still continue with current operations in administering vaccines and boosters to the eligible population,” the DOH said in a statement.

“[The] NVOC is also reviewing existing policies to identify possible points for revision, one of which is the integration of COVID-19 vaccines to routine immunization,” the Health Department added.

For the meantime, the DOH said it is conducting granular and localized analyses in areas with low vaccine uptakes.

“Further, DOH and NVOC are currently focusing efforts to ramp-up the rollout of vaccines for our current priority groups through granular and localized analysis of areas with low vaccine coverage of 1st boosters and high numbers of unvaccinated. This is to ensure that strategies implemented to increase coverage are tailor fitted to best suit a given area or region,” the agency further said.

The National Task Force against COVID-19 (NTF) recently announced that the country has achieved its target of fully vaccinating 70 million Filipinos against COVID-19.

/MUF