Churches can be used as vaccination sites in far-flung areas, says Duque

Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Sunday said churches can be used as alternative sites for vaccination in hard-to-reach municipalities that lack facilities.

Duque made the remark as the DOH welcomed the offer of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to convert its church facilities into COVID-19 vaccination sites.

“We are happy with the CBCP’s offer to have churches as vaccination hubs if needed. Churches really can be alternative sites to areas that lack facility, especially those in hard-to-reach municipalities,” Duque said in a statement.

Earlier, CBCP president and Davao City Archbishop Romulo Valles offered their church facilities to be used in the vaccination rollout, which is expected to start by February.

DOH said it has been reaching out to several medical and allied health professionals, local government units and other sectors to help in the coming vaccine rollout and in boosting vaccine confidence.

According to DOH, the task of vaccinating millions of Filipinos would need the assistance of everyone.

Duque said, “The move of the CBCP to transform church facilities into vaccination sites will surely expedite delivery of most-needed healthcare services.” 

Also, according to him, “The government cannot do this alone, we need the whole of the society to implement the COVID-19 immunization program.” 

Valles as well as CBCP vice president Bishop Pablo Virgilio S. David expressed willingness to get inoculated with COVID-19 vaccines in public, which Duque was also appreciated.

“This also adds up to the public's uptake on vaccines as the bishops expressed their willingness to get vaccinated,” the health secretary said.

The Philippine government aims to secure around 148 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to inoculate some 50 to 70 million Filipinos this year. —LBG, GMA News