(File photo)
MANILA – To prevent crowding in pharmacies set to administer Covid-19 jabs to the public, Malacañang said expected vaccine recipients will have to preregister before arriving at participating drugstores.
Acting presidential spokesperson, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, made this remark after testing czar Vince Dizon announced the pilot rollout of Covid-19 vaccination in select pharmacies and clinics from January 20 to 21.
“Kailangan pong magrehistro (Pre-registration is required). So that way, mas ma-manage po natin ang flow ng mga pupunta doon sa mga botika at ng (we can manage the flow of those showing up at drugstores and) private clinics that are participating in this pilot implementation,” Nograles said in a Palace press briefing.
Dubbed “Resbakuna sa mga Botika”, Dizon said the program will start with seven participating drugstores.
Dizon said they talked to Mercury Drug, Watsons, Rose Pharmacy, Southstar Drug, Generika, and other clinics like Healthway at QualiMed.
Nograles said each of the seven participating drugstores will be provided with an initial 500 doses of Covid-19 vaccines per week or a total of 3,500 doses.
“If its 500 [doses] per week, per Botika times seven, so iyon po iyong allocation natin (that is our allocation) for that week. So seven times 500 – 3,500 [doses],” he said.
Nograles also noted that participating drugstores and clinics will be implementing this vaccination drive in coordination with local government units (LGUs).
“Iyong LGUs sa kanila po iyong responsibility ng registration ang documentation and then iyong pharmacies naman will oversee the administration (The responsibility of registration and documentation lies within LGUs while pharmacies will oversee administration),” he added.
Booster recipients only
Meanwhile, Nograles clarified that Resbakuna sa mga Botika will initially cater to recipients of booster shots only.
“Itong pilot implementation ng Bakunahan sa Botika, ay para sa booster shots lamang, okay (This implementation of Bakunahan sa Botika is only for booster recipients, okay)?” he said.
He assured that the pilot implementation of the program will be adjusted accordingly.
“We will tweak and perfect it accordingly, depending on learnings natin habang (we have while) we are piloting the Bakuna sa Botika,” he added.
According to the Department of Health, fully vaccinated individuals are allowed to receive their booster shots at least three months after the second dose of a primary-two dose vaccine or at least two months after the primary single-dose vaccine is given.
AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer, Sinovac, or Sputnik are two-dose vaccines while Janssen is the sole single-dose vaccine currently approved for use in the country. (PNA)
