ILOILO – “It was quite a little long,” said Dr. Ma. Socorro Quiñon, chief of the Provincial Health Office.
She was referring to yesterday’s “time and motion” coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) simulated vaccination in the municipality of Oton.
The time taken from entry to actual vaccination of an individual – 56 minutes to an hour – had room for improvement, according to Quiñon.
The province’s first mock vaccination began at 8 a.m. It ran the process from delivery of temperature-sensitive vaccines to actual vaccination and post-vaccination observation.
From a Department of Health (DOH) storage facility, vials of mock vaccines were transported to the vaccination site. The delivery took about 21 minutes. The transfer of vaccines from the DOH storage room to an air-conditioned vehicle, meanwhile, lasted for five minutes.
“Kon vaccine na ya nga Pfizer, three minutes lang dapat kay kinahanglan cold gid,” said Quiñon.
She also noted that the storage requirement for the vaccine was two to eight degrees centigrade.
Quiñon recommended a time travel revision plan from the DOH storage vaccine to the site.
“May ara gid dapat pulis nga mag-guide para dasig ang pag-transport. Kinahanglan kon Pfizer-made nga vaccine, it should be lesser the time nga pag-transfer kita,” she added.
One hundred vaccinators trained by the Department of Health (DOH) joined the simulation.
They gave shots against pneumonia to 50 select participants composed of senior citizens, health workers and local government unit (LGU) employees.
Participants were already given identification cards, thus registration did not take much time.
They proceeded to the counseling area where it took a person about eight to 18 minutes to complete the orientation and filling up of consent form.
“That [in the counseling area] is where we will make some revision nga during sang registration na lang [ma-sign sang consent form] kay may table man,” said Quiñon.
Participants then went to the screening area where the pre-vaccination checklist was inspected.
“This was where physical examination happened. Patients were checked of their blood pressure, temperature, their lung condition, among others,” said Quiñon.
From the screening area, patients went to the vaccination area where there were three vaccination teams. It took a person three minutes to get inoculated.
Then those already vaccinated were instructed to stay at an observation area for 30 minutes to one hour to check for any immediate adverse reactions from the jab.
“During the post-vaccination, a patient was required to wait for at least 30 minutes at the post vaccination where they are being monitored. Ginalantaw ang ila pulse dosimeter, oxygen saturation, and blood pressure. Once they are stable sa 30 minutes, makagwa na na sila,” Quiñon explained.
There were three scenarios at the post-vaccination area during the simulation – the patient got adverse event following immunization; severe anaphylactic reaction; and/or hypertensive patient (yellow tagging).
“This tested the capacity sang Rural Health Unit to manage these circumstances,” Quiñon explained.
She noted the transfer of a patient with severe reaction to a private hospital in Iloilo City took health workers only 10 minutes.
Meantime, the hypertensive patient (yellow tagging) was brought to Guimbal District Hospital. The transfer took 21 minutes.
“It took longer time for hypertensive patients that’s why ang Oton LGU opted nga sa city hospital na lang dal-on. Kon mild, sa district hospital,” Quiñon said.
Another scenario created yesterday was the management of mild case on site.
“It went well man kay may ara doctor sa vaccination area,” said Quiñon.
She added that what they have evaluated during the first simulation will be carried out for revision for the next simulation in the 5th District.
“We made some recommendations so as we go along ma-lessen ang need nga e-enhance,” Quiñon said.
She hopes the series of simulation exercise would make the province fully ready for the actual vaccination.
Quiñon also underscored the need for an aggressive education and information campaign about COVID-19 vaccines as many Ilonggos are still hesitant to have themselves vaccinated./PN
