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| Pfizer/Moderna became the first COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer to have its application for Emergency Use Authorization in the Philippines approved by the national government's Food And Drug Administration. (Image Source: AlJazeera.com) |
With the national government, local government units and the private sector securing deals that can deliver millions of vaccines from the likes of Sinovac/Sinopharm, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca among others to the country in the coming months starting February, thousands of health workers across different parts of the Philippines are preparing to embark on the most expansive vaccination program against the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic which aims to achieve herd immunity in possibly a year's time.
During the House of Representatives' Committee On Health hearing last January 18, 2021 regarding the Philippine government's rollout of its COVID-19 vaccination plan, Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III shared the scope of the rollout will be mainly contingent on the availability of the global supply. On the other hand, Duque said that the government has trained enough health workers for the implementation of the vaccination program. Aimed at inoculating a hundred people a day, these vaccinators are slated to be deployed in teams of six in medical centers, hospitals, rural health clinics and other government agencies to be served as fixed vaccination hubs.
The proposed COVID-19 vaccination will be staged in five different parts which is mandated to take at least eight to ten minutes per inoculation. These include the following: (1) registration - QR code generation from pre-registration process, checklist of information, documentation requirements, health registration form, informed consent; (2) pre-vaccination - counseling patients, answering questions on the vaccine and possible side effects upon vaccination, instructional videos; (3) screening - history-taking and physical examination; (4) vaccination - checklist before vaccination, encoding details on the vaccination card for the vaccinee; and (5) post-vaccination monitoring where the inoculated patient will be observed and have his vitals monitored for one hour.
According to Duque, any adverse effect that will arise after the vaccination will be recorded and addressed through a mandated investigation protocol. Meanwhile, the national government and local government units in Metro Manila have tapped third-party providers for the storage of vaccines developed by various manufacturers upon entry into the Philippines. Additional warehousing needs for them will eventually have to be filled up by third-party firms starting August. However, some government hubs need to be retrofitted to have additional storage capacity for vaccines which require a temperature of at least 70°C or colder if necessary.
Currently, Pfizer/BioNTech is the only anti-COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer to have acquired an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the Philippines' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which enables the use of the vaccine in hospitals and related healthcare hubs and disallows the products to become available commercially with China's Sinovac/Sinopharm and an Indian vaccine manufacturer to have their EUA applications approved probably in the coming weeks. On the other hand, a non-disclosure agreement forged between the government and the vaccine manufacturers does not literally allow any individual or organization to share details on the price ranges of the said products; otherwise, it will cause a further delay to the delivery of the vaccines. Regardless, the country's impending return to normalcy depends on the success and progress of the government's COVID-19 vaccination plan and we should be crossing our fingers for whatever happens throughout its implementation.
