Malacañang on Monday, November 9, confirmed President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval of the National Task Force’s (NTF) Philippine National Vaccine Roadmap, which was presented last week to the public.
Presidential Spokesperson Secretary Harry Roque emphasized that this roadmap will be Philippines’ hope, like the rest of the world, to finally have a fighting chance with the virus.
“Tulad ng madalas kong sabihin (like what I always say), the availability of the vaccine will be a game-changer – where we go from avoidance, to actively minimizing the threat of the infection,” said Roque.
While waiting for the vaccine, the spokesman reminded Filipinos to continue following the minimum health protocols.
“Samantala po alalahanin po natin yung hinihingi ng ating Presidente: mask, hugas, iwas. Dahil ang gusto natin umabot tayo sa paglabas ng bakuna.
The Philippine National Vaccine Roadmap has seven important stages, which will have corresponding government agencies as lead.
Stage 1, which is also the most critical, is the scientific evaluation and selection that the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) are heading. The access and acquisition, which will guarantee access to the vaccines, is being spearheaded by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Finance (DOF).
Procurement will be done by the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PSDBM) and the DOF. Procurement, shipment, and storage will also be handled by the PSDBM and the Task Group Resource Management and Logistics (TGRML) of the NTF. Distribution and deployment of the vaccine will be handled by the PSDBM and TGRML.
Stage 6 is the implementation and nationwide vaccination will have the DOH as lead agency in cooperation with national government agencies, local government units, among others. The last stage is assessment, evaluation, and monitoring, which will be done by the DOH, DOST, and the University of the Philippines National Institutes of Health.
The vaccine roadmap is expected to be implemented before the year ends.
