DILG: 50K+ police, fire personnel deployed for nat'l vaccine rollout

More than 50,000 personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection, and the Philippine National Police will ensure "smooth rollout" of vaccines against COVID-19 as the government expects to inoculate millions of workers in the A4 category, the Interior department said  Sunday.

In a statement, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año said 35,415 police personnel will assist in the transportation of vaccines nationwide and 13,840 will help maintain health protocols as well as security in inoculation activities.

“Mass vaccination will be a big challenge to the government but with the help of our uniformed personnel, we aim to get as many of our countrymen and women vaccinated as efficiently and as soon as possible. This is the only way for us to put an end to this pandemic,” the DILG Secretary said.

Also, Año said 2,390 personnel and 356 emergency medical service units from the BFP were deployed in 1,150 warehouse and vaccination sites in the country. Fire bureau also prepositioned 733 fire trucks and 59 ambulances for transportation needs in the inoculation.

Año added that uniformed personnel with medical backgrounds will also be "assigned to do medical tasks in our vaccination sites all over the country."

As of May 24, DILG said 14,082  police medical workers  received their first dose of COVID-19 jabs, and 8,416 of these personnel got their second dose.

For BFP, 6,298 of its personnel received their first dose while 2,298 received their second dose.

Earlier, the National Economic and Development Authority indicated that, at least, 35.5 million workers are included in the A4 category for the national immunization program against COVID-19. 

Last week, the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases simplified the A4 category, which  will now include all government and private sector workers, informal sector workers, and those who work in private households who need to physically report to work. —LBG, GMA News