ILOILO City – Western Visayas’ two highly urbanized cities and two provinces secured approval for their respective coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination plans.
These included the cities of Iloilo and Bacolod and the provinces of Iloilo and Capiz, according to Dr. Mary Jane Juanico, head of the infectious disease cluster of the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6.
Juanico said few recommendations to the vaccination plans were made such as the creation of vaccine operation centers, budgeting, training for vaccinators, and preparation of cold storage facilities.
“We gave recommendations sa sina nga local government units (LGUs) and weekly gina-review and update naton ang readiness assessment. So, improving naman and we are due to enhance sang ila nga COVID-19 vaccination plans,” Juanico told Panay News.
The COVAC plans of the four LGUs were centered on planning and coordination, financing and budgeting, verification and targeting, service delivery, training, monitoring and supervision, safety surveillance and response, among others.
The provinces of Guimaras, Antique, Aklan, and Negros Occidental have not submitted hard copies of their COVID-19 vaccination plans yet but Juanico said there was an ongoing discussion of their readiness assessment plans.
While there’s no deadline for submission, Juanico encouraged them to craft their vaccination plans sooner to give health officials ample time to review them before the arrival of vaccines in the second half of the year.
“This will serve as guide para ma-ensure nga during the preparation stage ma-address ang tanan nga possible gaps and then maka-obra sang contingency just in case,” said Juanico.
Based on the guidelines set by the DOH, the priority recipients were frontline healthcare workers.
These included those in public and private health facilities such as hospitals, medical centers, laboratories, infirmaries, treatment rehabilitation centers, and temporary treatment and monitoring facilities; public health workers in all Rural Health Units, City Health Office, Provincial Health Office, and LGU contact tracers; barangay health workers including barangay health emergency response teams; among others./PN
