AS the government prepares for the Covid-19 vaccination program rollout in February, the number of infections in the country exceeded the 500,000 mark on Sunday.
As of 4 p.m. of January 17, a total of 1,895 additional cases of Covid-19 were logged, with 5,868 recoveries and 11 deaths.
Of the total number of cases, 4.9 percent (24,691) are active, 93.1 percent (465,991) have recovered, and 1.98 percent (9,895) have died. Dismissing misinformation and disinformation against Covid-19 vaccines.
The Department of Health (DOH), together with the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), are busy with the “Town Hall” meeting over the weekend with the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) to advocate vaccination, and increase people’s confidence in vaccines.
Recognizing nurses as important partners in the Covid-19 immunization program, the meeting shed light on the vaccine selection process and the national vaccination deployment plan. It also addressed issues on vaccine acceptance and its primary barriers, and how health-care workers can lend a hand in effective risk communication and demand generation for vaccines.
During the town hall, health social scientist Prof. Nina Castillo-Carandang of the University of the Philippines Manila College of Medicine addressed issues on vaccine hesitancy and the crucial role that health workers play in increasing vaccine confidence. On the other hand, Dr. Marion Kwek of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases also discussed the current vaccines on the pipeline. Also present were DOH Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje; Director General Eric Domingo of the Food and Drug Administration; Dr. Nina Gloriani, Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Vaccine Expert Panel Head; and Executive Director Jaime Montoya of the DOST Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, who provided a technical overview of the vaccine selection from clinical trial and emergency use authorization applications to deployment.
Aside from the presentations, the DOH and the members of the town hall panel also called for support to help dismiss misinformation and disinformation against Covid-19 vaccines.
National Task Force against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. noted that there are too many noises surrounding vaccines and assured that the country will only procure proven safe and efficacious vaccines. The procurement process will be corruption-free, he added, saying “that is why we are urging the Philippine Nurses Association to help us on this—to bring forth the level of confidence of the public to uptake on our nationwide vaccination. Please help us by being our champions in your household and in your community.”
The vaccine czar reiterated that frontliners will be prioritized in the immunization program and they will only receive vaccines that passed the scientific evaluation and regulatory processes.
Part of the meeting’s objective is to provide a venue for the participants to raise concerns and seek clarification on the immunization plan. “It is important that health-care workers have a full understanding of Covid-19. It is important to have the necessary information of these vaccines for our health-care workers to help in this drive. Safety is our priority,” PNA President Dr. Rosalie de Leon said in her opening message.
“With the expected arrival of vaccines, the next challenge lies in increasing vaccine confidence for its consequent rollout,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said in a separate statement.
“For this particular endeavor we will need all hands on deck. The government requires and will solicit the assistance of allied medical professionals such as nurses, midwives, pharmacists, and barangay health to aid us in making the Covid-19 vaccine deployment a success,” he added.
He stressed that vaccines work and have great benefits. “This is why we, as health-care workers, have the responsibility to ensure that we afford these benefits to the common Juan and we can start doing this by making sure that people are adequately informed about the benefits of vaccines,” he concluded.