DOH: Around 50,000 vaccinators needed for initial Covid-19 vaccine rollout

MANILA, Philippines — Around 50,000 vaccinators are needed to kickstart the government’s Covid-19 vaccination program, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the estimate is based on the number of individuals eligible for vaccination in each vulnerable sector.

“Sa ngayon, tinataya natin na based on the number of eligible individuals based from each sector, nakikita natin mangangailangan po tayo ng roughly around 50,000 vaccinators,” she said in a Laging Handa public briefing.

(For now, based on the number of eligible individuals based from each sector, we see that we would need roughly around 50,000 vaccinators.)

The vaccinators will be deployed for the vaccination of priority population, which include frontline workers in healthcare facilities, senior citizens, and persons with co-morbidities.

Meanwhile, 4,000 individuals have so far undergone vaccinator training, which in turn will train other vaccinators across the country.

“Sila ang nagbababa nitong mga training dito sa iba’t ibang lugar sa bansa para magkaroon ng training ang ating mga vaccinators,” the Health official said.

The “end-to-end” vaccinator training covered the preparatory stages for vaccination and the monitoring of vaccine recipients after receiving their doses, she added.

The Philippines is expecting to receive 117,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine this month. More than half a million doses of Sinovac’s vaccine are also slated to arrive in the country by Feb. 23.