Pediatric vaccination (PNA file photo by Gil Calinga)
MANILA – The government is adamant that it will sustain the gains of the National Covid-19 vaccination program through a development plan.
The National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19, Department of Health (DOH), and Department of the Interior and Local Government, with the help of the World Health Organization, have began crafting a document containing the National Deployment and Vaccination Plan (NDVP) for Covid-19 Vaccines to ensure the continuity of inoculation efforts.
NTF chief, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., said a “writeshop” was held on April 6 and 8 to prepare the document that could be passed on to the next administration.
“This will ensure that our ongoing massive vaccination will continue and we will be more aggressive to ensure that all people will have their protection,” Galvez said during the prerecorded “Talk to the People” aired via state-run PTV-4 late Monday night.
He said the National Vaccination Operations Center and the DOH are committed to sustaining the country’s successful pandemic response, particularly the massive vaccination program that has so far fully inoculated 66.6 million Filipinos.
“Kailangan continuous pa rin po ang vaccination natin even beyond our administration (We need to continue vaccination even beyond our administration),” Galvez said. “Iyong initial success po natin, Mr. President, ay ilalagay po natin sa libro para may playbook na po ang susunod na administrasyon (Mr. President, we will put in writing our initial success so that the next administration would have a playbook),” he said.
The NDVP will contain the necessary steps on vaccination policies and strategies, as well as the key components of the vaccination program.
“(G)agawa po tayo ng dokumento para ma-i-transfer po natin sa next administration (We will make a document so that we could transfer it to the next administration),” Galvez said.
The playbook will contain regulatory preparedness; planning and coordination; costing and funding; identification of target populations; vaccine delivery strategies; supply chain management and waste management; human resource management and training; acceptance and uptake; vaccine safety and quality monitoring; management of adverse events after immunization and injecting safety; vaccination monitoring system; and vaccine effectiveness. (PNA)
