The Department of Health said that they will be needing 50,000 personnel to administer the COVID-19 vaccines once they arrive in the country.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the estimate was based on the number of individuals eligible for vaccination in each of the vulnerable sectors.
“Nakikita natin kakailanganin po natin ng roughly around 50,000 vaccinators para po dito sa ating isasagawang deployment program for the priority population,” she said in media briefing.
The government will be prioritizing health workers, the elderly and the indigent population.
Vergeire said that so far they only have 4,000 people being trained for the vaccination program.
“Meron na po tayong na-train starting from December na mahigit 4,000. They are the trainors, and sila po ngayon ang nagbababa nitong mga training dito sa iba’t ibang lugar sa ating bansa,” she said.
The health official that the training covered the preparatory stages for vaccination and the monitoring of vaccine recipients after receiving their doses.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque announced that there is no definitive yet on the arrival of the first 117,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.
This comes following the delay of its arrival, which was tentatively set last February 15.
“Wala pa po tayo naririnig na balita,” Roque said in a PTV 4 interview.
“Dahil ‘yan po ay ipapadala sa pamamagitan ng eroplano. Ang inaasahan natin ay magbibigay notisiya ang Pfizer sa atin kung naisakay na yang shipment na yan sa eroplano galing sa Brussels papunta ng Pilipinas,” he added.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez announced last week that there will be delays in the arrival of the Pfizer vaccines due to the absence of indemnity fund.
The vaccine manufacturers want the government to shoulder the cost should there be adverse reactions to vaccine.
A total of 600,000 doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine donated by the Chinese government, however, are set to arrive on February 23. (TDT)
