Chemical manufacturer D&L Industries Inc. on Thursday said it participated in a vaccination campaign initiated by Quezon City Mayor Maria Josefina G. Belmonte to hasten the inoculation of more citizens.
Under the partnership, the Quezon City government supplied the vaccines and provided supervision at the venue provided by Ever Gotesco, while D&L contributed the medical team.
The partnership has conducted three weekend vaccination drives so far. D&L and the local government are targeting to organize more vaccination schedules in the coming weeks, as additional vaccines become available.
“We find the partnership highly innovative and responsive to the needs of our people during this pandemic. We’d like to extend our deep appreciation to Mayor Joy and the Quezon City government for giving us the opportunity to be of service to the public. We’d also like to thank Ever Gotesco for providing the venue and staff support. By working together, we can have more people vaccinated at the soonest possible time,” D&L President and CEO Alvin Lao said.
D&L’s office is in Libis in Quezon City.
A limited number of economic frontliners from D&L and Ever Gotesco were accommodated during the morning sessions of the drive while the afternoon sessions were entirely devoted to priority groups from the communities in Quezon City.
“We put serious efforts on educating our employees about the benefits of getting vaccinated. As a result, an overwhelming majority of them are now inclined to take the vaccine. With an increasing number of our employees being vaccinated, we hope to develop herd immunity, at least within the company, over the next couple of months, subject to vaccine availability. We see this as taking an active role in helping end the pandemic,” Lao said.
Jabs from DMCI
Consunji family-led DMCI Group on Thursday said more than 4,100 of its employees and workers have received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in partnership with various local government units (LGU), ICTSI Foundation and Reliance United.
Fully vaccinated employees now total 540, the company said.
Most of the vaccines were administered through the LGUs while over 230 employees were inoculated through the DMCI group employee vaccination program.
Of the 30,000 doses of Moderna vaccines ordered by the DMCI, 420 arrived in late June. Around 7,600 doses will arrive in the third quarter while the rest will become available in the fourth quarter.
“Our goal is to reach herd immunity as soon as possible so we encouraged and assisted our workforce in enlisting with their LGUs. It does not matter what brand they get as long as they are protected from the virus,” DMCI Holdings Inc. Chairman and President Isidro A. Consunji said.
Approximately 12,100 employees and workers from the different DMCI Holdings subsidiaries have registered with the LGUs and are awaiting vaccination schedules.
Once its second and third tranches of Moderna vaccines arrive, the conglomerate intends to vaccinate its employees and workers in Batangas, Bulacan, Masbate, Palawan, and Semirara Island.
Cold-chain facilities
With the arrival of new vaccine shipments, Zuellig Pharma Corp. said on Thursday that it has adequate cold chain facilities to house the Covid-19 doses.
The healthcare services provider welcomed the delivery of Moderna doses to the Philippines, which will be stored in its pharma-grade cold-chain facility in Parañaque City. These will be delivered using eZCooler solution, a passive packaging system, to ensure the “integrity of temperature-sensitive vaccines during the last mile of transportation.”
“Today marks an important day in the Philippines’s battle against Covid-19. Through the concerted efforts with the National Government and the ICTSI Foundation, the arrival of the newly procured Covid-19 Vaccine Moderna allows access for both private and public sectors,” Zuellig Philippines Chief Executive Officer Maikel Kuijpers said in a statement.
Zuellig noted that Moderna vials should be stored in a freezer between -25 degrees Celsius and -15 degrees Celsius. The pharmaceutical firm earlier reported that its cold-storage facilities can accommodate temperate requirements between -80°C to +25 °C.
Jannette Jakosalem, Chief Business Officer of Zuellig Philippines, said their -15 to -25 °C walk-in freezers can accommodate 12 million doses.
“We also have 20 ultra-cold freezers with -80 to -70 °C temperature range that have the capacity to store up to 4.7 million doses, ensuring shelf life for the procured vaccines is maximized,” she said.
In February, Zuellig announced its purchase of additional 10 ultra-low temperature freezers in anticipation of the Covid-19 vaccine shipments’ arrival.
Through its commercialization division—ZP Therapeutics—Moderna named Zuellig as the emergency use authorization holder for Covid-19 vaccine in the Philippines.
The said vaccine has also been approved for emergency use in the United States, Canada, Israel, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Singapore, Qatar, Taiwan, Thailand, Brunei, Paraguay, Japan and South Korea. VG Cabuag, Tyrone Jasper C. Piad