34 hospitals to get first batch of COVID-19 vaccines —DOH

Thirty-four hospitals across Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao will receive the first batch of coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said 32 of the hospitals are in Metro Manila while one is in Cebu and another is in Davao.

The DOH met with the hospital administrators last week and instructed them to submit a verified list of vaccine recipients as well as a “quick substitution list”

“Most of the hospitals were able to submit ‘yung kumpletong listahan. Meron lang pong mga ospital na ‘yung kanilang quick substitution list ay hindi pa po kumpleto,” Vergeire said in a virtual briefing.

The DOH is yet to release the complete list of hospitals that will receive the vaccines.

It earlier said COVID-19 referral centers, big hospitals of local government units, and five private hospitals will be first in line.

Some of the COVID-19 referral centers that will receive vaccines are the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), Lung Center of the Philippines, Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium, and the East Avenue Medical Center.

In the same briefing, PGH Director Dr. Gerardo Legaspi said 94% of the hospital’s health workers have pre-registered for vaccination.

Legaspi said the PGH will heed the directive of the DOH to vaccinate not just health workers but all other frontline personnel of the hospital.

“We took the assignment [of] being the first hospital to get the vaccine for its healthcare workers very seriously and I think, learning from the experience here, madali po siyang i-translate sa ibang mga ospital,” he said.

The delivery of 117,000 Pfizer-BioNTech doses was delayed due to the lack of indemnification or compensation for those who will experience serious side effects from vaccines.

The Philippines will receive 5.6 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines in the first quarter of the year through the World Health Organization-led COVAX Facility.—AOL, GMA News