ILOILO City – Select pharmacies in this city will be administering to eligible people vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Department of Health (DOH) secretary Francisco Duque will be coming over to lead the rollout, according to Mayor Jerry Treñas but he did not give a specific date.
The national government calls this campaign “Resbakuna sa Botika” to make COVID-19 vaccination more accessible to people. The program was launched in Metro Manila on Jan. 20.
It remains unclear which pharmacies in this city will be enlisted for the campaign. But in a radio interview, Treñas said he gathered that one was mall-based.
This will be Duque’s first visit to Iloilo City since the coronavirus pandemic broke out in 2020.
Aside from rolling out the “Resbakuna sa Botika” program in Iloilo City, Duque will also be checking the soon-to-be-operational Iloilo City Modular Hospital in Barangay So-oc, Arevalo district, said Treñas.
DOH will be providing the hospital with healthcare workers such as doctors and nurses, said the mayor.
In June 2020, Treñas urged Duque to step down for “not making correct decisions” since the start of the pandemic in the Philippines.
“I think it is time for him to accept responsibility and voluntarily resign for the sake of the country,” Treñas said that time, pointing out that despite the country having the “longest lockdown,” COVID-19 cases continued to spike.
On Saturday night, Treñas said he would be civil with Duque when the DOH chief finally visits Iloilo City.
In Metro Mainla, major pharmacies participating in the “Resbakuna sa Botika” include The Generics Pharmacy, Generika Drugstore, Healthway Clinic, Mercury Drug, Watsons, QualiMed, and Southstar Drug.
Acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles, earlier said the pharmacy-based vaccination would still be free.
For his part, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 said this scheme also addresses the problem on the lack of vaccinators in government vaccination centers.
Presidential Adviser for Covid-19 Response Vivencio Dizon clarified, however, that only booster shots will be given in the participating pharmacies in the “Resbakuna sa Botika”.
Pharmacists of partner drugstores will be administering the booster shots, he added.
The national government now targets 77 million Filipinos to complete their COVID-19 vaccines by the end of the first quarter.
“So, all we ask Filipinos is that we go to the vaccination sites, especially when we roll out to pharmacies in various places in the Philippines. It will be even easier,” said Dizon./PN
