House leader proposes 24/7 vaccine rollout

MANILA, Philippines — Deputy Speaker and 1-Pacman party-list Rep. Mikee Romero yesterday urged the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to open vaccination centers around the clock to accelerate vaccine rollout and achieve herd immunity sooner.

“So long as vaccines are already available, the possibility of reaching herd immunity at the fastest possible period of time will be answered by 24/7 vaccine center operations,” he said, stressing the need to inoculate around the clock, even on weekends, and tap more vaccinators.

Romero said 24/7 vaccine centers would be the best response to the expected surge of vaccine recipients once other priority groups are permitted to get COVID-19 jabs.

“Longer hours of vaccine center operations would address the problem of overcrowding and help guarantee the observance of health and security protocols,” he added.

Romero also supported the proposal of Speaker Lord Allan Velasco to tap “underboard” nursing graduates who can be tapped to man the 24-hour vaccine centers.?

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier announced that vaccine supplies from various sources would start pouring in by next month.

Experts warned against spoilage of vaccines, unless the country can guarantee timely inoculation.

BPO workers

The decision to include business process outsourcing (BPO) frontline workers in the A4 priority group for vaccination would help the country recover from the pandemic, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez said yesterday.

Lopez said the IATF supported the move following justification presented by DTI on the BPO industry’s economic importance as major contributor to export revenues amounting to nearly $30 billion a year, directly employing 1.32 million and generating four million indirect jobs.

“This is the only sector that didn’t lay off workers and even continued to hire during this pandemic. This is helping the economy in its recovery efforts, in saving jobs and contributions to dollar revenue generation,” Lopez said.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (Phil) Inc. yesterday urged the government to conduct a ‘buhos’ approach that deploys all available vaccines and resources to National Capital Region (NCR) Plus areas to achieve herd immunity faster.

Doing so, the group said, will ensure health facilities are not overwhelmed and give much needed respite for exhausted health care workers.

The group also called on the government to issue a “standardized vaccination or bakuna card” for vaccinees. Cardholders may be allowed to freely move around while following health protocols and establishments may start serving them without any restrictions.

“We propose a central database and QR codes in every establishment that, once scanned, will trigger a validation using an app in one’s smartphone that will then display the electronic vaccination card of the holder and thus allow safe entry to the said establishment or any other similar method of validation to avoid the risk of fake vaccination cards,” the group said. –  Louella Desiderio