VACCINATION sites will remain open even during Holy Week as the government is still short of its goal of fully inoculating 70 million Filipinos against Covid-19 before the 2022 National and Local Election (NLE).
In fact, National Vaccination Operation Center (NVOC) chairperson Myrna C. Cabotaje said some places of worship will also provide Covid-19 jabs even during the long weekend.
“The CBCP (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines) agreed they (vaccinator) could administer jabs besides parishes and churches. There will also be vaccination in places of worship during the Ramadan, which will be done near mosques,” Cabotaje said during a televised interview last Wednesday
She said they also directed their regional offices to continue administering Covid-19 jabs in hospitals, especially those under the management of the Department of Health (DOH) and local government units (LGU) during Holy Week.
The health official stressed, though, that the said initiative will not be mandatory for LGUs.
“It has to be voluntary… to make vaccination sites available in many of these areas,” Cabotaje said.
To note, Filipino Christians and Muslims spend the ongoing Holy Week and Ramadan going to places of worship or going home to their home provinces.
The government is wary that the current religious holidays as well as the upcoming May 9 polls could lead to a surge in Covid-19 cases.
It is trying to minimize the said risk by targeting to fully vaccinate 70 people within the month.
As of April 12, 2022, Cabotaje said the government was able to fully vaccinate 66.7 million Filipinos. Of these, 12.5 million were able to get their booster dose.