The Philippine government’s COVID-19 task force stepped up preparations for the distribution of a vaccine, putting the Department of Health (DOH) in charge of a group of agencies that would lead the immunization drive.
In a meeting on Thursday, October 29, the Inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) created a “COVID-19 Immunization Program Management Organizational Structure.”
“The DOH has been directed to immediately convene the Task Group COVID-19 Immunization Management and establish sub-task groups as necessary,” said Presidential Spokesman and task force spokesman Harry Roque on Friday.
The task group was ordered to “ensure the successful and efficient deployment” of COVID-19 vaccines “to target populations,” he added.
In the government’s alphabet soup of groups created to address the pandemic, the vaccine task group would be under the National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF), which implements the policies formulated by the IATF-EID.
Task groups have subgroups under them.
The vaccine task group is expected to hold a meeting “at the soonest possible time,” said Roque.
Last week, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto urged Malacañang to appoint a “vaccine czar,” or an official who can solve the challenges of getting the COVID-19 vaccine and making it accessible to Filipinos.
These challenges may include establishing cold chain distribution for vaccines that may require storage at ultracold temperatures, like minus 70 degrees Celsius for vaccines being developed by US firms Moderna and Pfizer.
The ramped up preparations come as a handful of promising vaccine candidates are expected to wind down their Phase 3 clinical trials, a stage where tens of thousands of volunteers are given the vaccine and observed for efficacy and side effects.
The Duterte administration is particularly elated about promising news about Chinese vaccines. The government is banking on a commitment from China that the Philippines will get priority access to these vaccines.
Government experts gave an optimistic projection that a vaccine will be approved by the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration and ready for distribution in the months of April to June next year. – Rappler.com
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