DOH urges 8-hour duty, regular rotation of vaccinators to avoid errors

The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday urged vaccination teams to limit the work hours and regularly rotate health workers after a breach in COVID-19 vaccination protocol was caught on video.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the incident in Makati where a health worker failed to push the syringe plunger while administering a vaccine was simply a result of human error. 

“Let us not try to crucify the healthcare worker. Nagkakamali po tayong lahat (We all make mistakes)... Ang pinakaimportante po (What’s important is), we were able to rectify,” she said in a briefing.

Vergeire assured the public that several steps can be taken to avoid similar incidents.

“Let’s limit the time of our healthcare workers to just eight hours. ‘Wag po nating palampasin. Magkaroon po tayo ng rotation para nakakapagpahinga rin po, nagkakaroon ng lesser mistakes,” she said.

(Let’s limit the time of our healthcare workers to just eight hours. Let’s not go beyond that. Let’s also rotate the staff so that they can rest and commit less mistakes.)

Vergeire explained that each vaccination team, which is composed of six members tasked with screening, counseling, and monitoring vaccine recipients, must inoculate at least 100 individuals in eight hours.

She added that vaccination sites should have roving supervisors to monitor and observe each station.

Meanwhile, Vergeire said the public may ask vaccinators to show them the syringe before and after inoculation to ensure that they were properly vaccinated.

The DOH also encouraged the public to send reports of breaches in vaccination protocol to authorities for immediate investigation and action.

The Philippines has vaccinated over 7.5 million individuals as of June 27, 2.5 million of whom have been fully vaccinated. The country aims to jab 50 million to 70 million people this year. — RSJ, GMA News