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Gov't to implement newly adopted COVID-19 vaccination plan


Gov't to implement newly adopted COVID-19 vaccination plan

The National Task Force Against COVID-19 announced Saturday that the government had approved and ratified the Philippine National Deployment and Vaccination Plan for COVID-19 Vaccines.

"All implementing agencies of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, all Regional and Local COVID-19 Task Forces, and all Regional and Local COVID-19 Vaccination Operations Centers, Local Task Forces and Local COVID-19 Vaccination Operations Centers are hereby mandated to implement and adapt the said plan," the NTF COVID-19 announced in a memorandum dated January 26, 2021.

The memo also directed Regional COVID-19 Vaccination Operations Centers to develop Regional COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment and Vaccination Macroplans.

Local COVID-19 Vaccination Operations Centers were also directed to develop Local COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment and Vaccination Microplans.

Both macro and micro plans would be based on the templates provided by the Health Department.

“Through the National Vaccine Deployment Plan, the Philippine government brings together all national agencies, local government counterparts, as well as partners in the private sector and civil society. By approaching the vaccination program in a whole-of-system, whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach, we can ensure the successes of the national vaccine deployment program in delivering safe, effective, and accessible vaccines for all Filipinos," Health Secretary and chairman of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) Francisco Duque III said in the foreword of the 129-page plan.

FULL TEXT of the plan

Philippine national COVID-19 Vaccination Plan by Luis Gorgonio on Scribd

 

National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer and Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. agreed and said, "Combatting the COVID-19 pandemic requires a Whole-of-Nation Approach."

"The Philippine situation must also be understood in light of the following major challenges in the national deployment and vaccination program. First, there is a very limited global supply of vaccines where every country in the world is seeking to gain access to vaccines and where 80% of available supply has already been taken by the richest countries. Knowing there is a limited supply, our policy is to build a portfolio of safe and effective vaccines and working with the private sector and our local government units because gaining access to more vaccine manufacturers and more partners enables us to secure more supply for our countrymen. Second, is that the effects of the vaccine have not been fully observed in some population groups," Galvez said.

Seven phases

The plan covers seven phases: scientific evaluation and selection; access and acquisition; procurement and financing; shipment and storage; distribution and deployment; implementation of nationwide vaccination; and assessment, monitoring and evaluation.

To ensure that many Filipinos will understand the need for the vaccination, the plan mandates authorities to conduct demand generation activities and develop a communications strategy to promote and improve vaccine confidence among the public.

The deployment of vaccines in specific geographical areas will be based on the burden of COVID-19 cases, which is determined from the number of active cases and the attack rate per 100,000 persons in the recent four weeks per area.

Priority geographical areas for COVID-19 vaccine deployment will be per region. As of January 2021, the National Capital Region ranks first based on the burden of COVID-19 cases, followed by Region IV-A, Region XI, CAR, and Region VIII.

The plan mandates the masterlisting of target individuals to receive the vaccine, to be done through an online or offline platform developed by the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the Department of Health.

The masterlisting will use a phased approach, as follows:

• Group A

  • Phase 1: workers in frontline health services
  • Phase 2: all senior citizens
  • Phase 3: indigent population
  • Phase 4: uniformed personnel


• Group B

  • Phase 5: other frontline workers and special populations

 

• Group C

  • Phase 6: remaining population


The submission of the total numbers and masterlist of demographics for Group A is on January 31, while completion of patient profile including their health status and consent for this group is on February 15.

The completion of the full masterlist for Group A and B sectors, on the other hand, should be done by March 31, and by June 30 for Group C.

The plan also provides for the "microplanning" for the implementation of vaccination program, which will be done by the concerned local government unit after they have received the masterlist of target vaccine beneficiaries.

The "microplanning" includes the determination of the number of eligible population for COVID-19 vaccination in the specific area, assigning vaccinees to vaccination sites, estimating the vaccine requirement and supplies, identifying gaps in cold chain capacity, preparing a vaccination schedule and the vaccination site itself.

The plan likewise enumerates the specific steps to follow during the implementation of the vaccination program itself — from registration, pre-vaccination counselling and final consent, screening, vaccination, to post-vaccination monitoring, surveillance and recording.

Right after the first dose of the vaccine is administered, the post-implementation phase begins.

"The role of vaccine safety monitoring during COVID-19 vaccine introduction is to facilitate the early detection, reporting, notification, investigation and analysis, and feedback of Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFIs) and Adverse Events of Special Interest (AESI), to ensure appropriate and timely case management and response," the plan read.

Fast, precise

As the vaccination rollout is expected to start by February, Duque on Thursday called on all the implementers to be fast and precise in storing and distributing the vaccines.

In his visit to the local government officials in Quezon City, Duque underscored that the COVID-19 vaccines have a shelf life of up to six months only and have high sensitivity to temperature.

Around P85 billion fund for COVID-19 vaccines could be wasted if they lose their potency due to mismanagement in storage and delays in distribution, he said.

On Wednesday, Galvez said over 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines are expected to be delivered in the country that will be used to start the vaccination rollout in February. —With a report from Erwin Colcol/DVM/KG, GMA News

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