Three national organizations in the medical field have volunteered to help boost the government’s vaccination drive by the millions, National Task Force against COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Saturday, Nov. 6.

With the government setting Nov. 29 and 30 and Dec. 1 as the country’s “National Vaccination Day,” Galvez said members of the Philippine Dental Association (PDA), the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) and the Philippine Pediatric Society (PPS) have volunteered to administer the vaccines.

“We will develop a better vaccination program and we are looking at the possibility of having millions of doses administered daily,” said the country’s vaccine czar.

Earlier, Galvez said the government was targeting an average daily vaccination rate of between one million and 1.5 million doses by the end of the month.

Since the goal is to administer at least 15 million jabs before the end of November, he said there is a need to activate around 4,000 to 5,000 vaccination sites nationwide, each one able to accommodate at least 500 vaccinees daily.

“If these sites can vaccinate up to 1,000 individuals once operational, then the targeted five million doses weekly will be achievable. So we will be utilizing the malls, universities, schools, gyms, military/police camps and function hall of the different government agencies,” Galvez said.

He said the government, in partnership with the Philippine Medical Association and its allied medical groups, will hold the National Vaccination Day.

He said this initiative to accelerate the country’s vaccination program will be done “by mobilizing the NGOs, government agencies, private sector and the volunteers.”

The government is also mulling to fully vaccinate at least 90% of the education sector including teachers, students and other school personnel. “This vaccination is really for the children because we are not only protecting our lives, our economy, but also we’re protecting our future. And that’s one of the most important things,” Galvez said.

Citing data reported by Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chair Prospero de Vera, he said 87 to 90% of the teacher population are already vaccinated.

Vaccination of teaching personnel and secondary students under the Department of Education (DepEd) will also be accelerated.

Galvez said the administration of booster shots for medical workers and other health care personnel in hospitals will also be prioritized by the end of the month.

He said one other target is to fully vaccinate at least 50% of the population residing in high-risk areas such as Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and Central Luzon regions.

As the vaccine czar, he vowed to address the huge disparity of vaccination rates between these areas and the National Capital Region (NCR), especially senior citizens who are most vulnerable to the disease.

“We will still concentrate on vaccinating senior citizens so that we can achieve full vaccination of at least 70% by the end of November,” he said.

Robredo: Incentives over punishment 

Vice President Leni Robredo made her pitch on how to encourage more Filipinos to get vaccinated against COVID-19, saying government should provide incentives instead of impose fines or punishment.

“For me, when there is hesitance, it’s better to incentivize. Incentivize them to get vaccinated rather than punishing those who do not want to get vaccinated,” Robredo said in Filipino during an interview in Negros Occidental on Saturday, Nov. 6.

“I don’t think it’s an effective way to punish or fine or not give them a chance. We see in our programs that when you give incentives, those people agree voluntarily and I think it’s the most effective way,” she said.

At an earlier press conference on Friday, Nov. 5, Robredo said the government should resort to “empowering” solutions to the pandemic, citing her office’s initiatives to encourage communities to get tested against COVID-19.

“If you get swabbed, you’ll get rice. If you tested positive, you’ll get a two-week worth of food supply for the entire family,” she said.

“In the course of our COVID-19 response operations, we have always incentivized people rather than punishing them for not being willing to do certain things,” she added.

Law on mandatory vaccination

In an interview over radio dzBB on Saturday, Nov. 6, NTF spokesman Restituto Padilla Jr. said the government is discussing the possibility of mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 to further increase coverage rates in the country.

Padilla said the basis for mandatory vaccination is data that show most of the severe or critical COVID-19 cases are those unvaccinated.

He noted that once a law is passed making vaccination mandatory, there will be consequences for those who still refuse to get inoculated.

Galvez and the Department of Health (DOH) support the proposal for mandatory vaccination of specific vulnerable sectors to achieve population protection.

Earlier, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the DOH has observed vaccine hesitancy among certain sectors.

Latest government data show about 28,718,856 individuals have been fully vaccinated or 26.06% of the country’s total population. – With Helen Flores