THE Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) has agreed to fast-track vaccination not only of the health-care workers (HCWs) but senior citizens (A2) and persons with co-morbidities (A3) in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Greater Metro Manila area where cases of Covid-19 are surging, the Department of Health (DOH) announced last Sunday.
The announcement came after the DOH recorded an additional 9,475 Covid-19 cases, the third day in a row that the country has surpassed 9,000 new daily cases.
As of 4 p.m. of March 28, the DOH said that the total number of cases in the country stood at 721,892.
There were also 22,000 recoveries and 11 deaths recorded under “Oplan Recovery.”
“Oplan Recovery” is an initiative wherein a patient is tagged as recovered when certain conditions are met even without repeat RT-PCR testing. This initiative is recommended by the Philippine College of Physicians and the Philippine Society of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
It is characterized by enhanced data collection, validation and reconciliation efforts between the DOH Central and Regional Offices and the Local Government Units (LGUs).
Of the total number of cases, 14.6 percent (105,568) are active, 83.6 percent (603,154) have recovered and 1.82 percent (13,170) have died.
These figures exclude the numbers from seven laboratories who were unable to submit their data to the Covid-19 Document Repository System on March 27.
Inoculation site
AS the cases spike, the Department of Education (DepEd) said public schools should only be used as last option for vaccination sites as the government continues its inoculation drive.
“Under our current policy, school buildings should only be used as a last resort if there is no other place,” Education Secretary Leonor M. Briones said. “Existing policies with regard to use of DepEd facilities still apply to vaccination centers.”
In a memorandum on the use of DepEd schools and other facilities sent to officials and school heads, Briones enumerated the following general guidelines: schools shall be the final option as vaccination sites; the site should pass the requirements of the DOH and the IATF; and, no other Covid-related activities must be conducted in the selected venues.
Briones noted that the DepEd’s policy in the implementation of the Philippine National Deployment and Vaccination Plan (NDVP) for Covid-19 noted that schools selected as last resort should be in a strategic location with sufficient space, facilities and human resources, among the other requirements set by the DOH.
“We are ceaselessly attuning with the DOH and the LGUs in determining the schools that are capable to meet their standards because we know that not all schools have the facilities needed for an immunization activity,” Briones said.
She emphasized that pilot schools identified for face-to-face learning and schools with ongoing health-related projects are excluded from being a possible vaccination center as the agency is putting first the safety and welfare of DepEd personnel reporting onsite and the learners.
“Since last year [and] until now that we are edging closer to the long-term solution to this crisis, we [are] ensuring the delivery of education to our learners,” Briones said. “With the administration’s vaccination efforts in place, the department will make sure that no learning continuity operations in schools will be interrupted by this.”
The Regional Offices have the power to allow the use of schools as vaccination centers based on the endorsement of the Schools Division Offices (SDO).
Moreover, LGU and health officials will decide whether to use a school as an isolation site or immunization site since utilizing it for both purposes at the same time is discouraged.
Informed decision
THE DepEd also maintained its commitment to educate the public and the learners amidst the pandemic and help them make informed decisions regarding the Covid-19 vaccination program.
“DepEd’s role is and has always been education. And education—having access to correct information, and having the ability to make correct decisions based on those available information—is as relevant as ever,” Briones noted.
To augment the education campaign on Covid-19 vaccination drive, the DepEd will utilize its multi-media platforms, learning modules and activities and learning action cell sessions to disseminate integrated information about the benefits, risks, and other matters related to vaccines.
“Everyone is enjoined to constantly seek opportunities to obtain correct information about the vaccines and vaccination and about the government’s plan and efforts related to Covid-19 Vaccination,” Briones concluded.
San Juan vaccination
SAN Juan City Mayor Francisco Javier M. Zamora said they will start vaccinating the senior citizens and constituents with comorbidities on March 30. As of March 27, a total of 3,375 medical frontliners and HCWs have been vaccinated already, according to Zamora.
“Also, medical frontliners who haven’t been vaccinated can still be inoculated as well,” the mayor added. “This simultaneous vaccination of the remainder of the medical frontliners and the first batch of senior citizens and those with comorbidities has been allowed by the IATF to speed up the vaccination process.”
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