MANILA – The Philippine National Police (PNP) instructed local police on Friday to form a platoon or company-size quick response team to manage congestion in vaccination sites.
PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar stated that units should be ready for deployment on short notice and must cooperate with local government authorities in the event that vaccination procedures must be cancelled due to rowdy behavior in vaccination centers.
“I have instructed all police chiefs to coordinate with local chief executives to determine the vaccination rules and process in their areas during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) period,” Eleazar said in a statement.
People went to vaccination centers around Metro Manila on Thursday, a day before the region’s two-week ECQ, following claims that unvaccinated people would be unable to work or receive financial help.
As a result, several vaccination operations were cancelled due to a breach of safe physical distancing and other basic public health safety precautions.
Malacañang ordered local government officials on Thursday to impose measures to stop crowding in Covid-19 vaccination sites, warning that failing to do so might be considered “dereliction of duty”.
Vaccination will continue during the two-week ECQ, according to the National Task Force against Covid-19, in order to safeguard the population and halt the spread of the coronavirus Delta variant.
Lt. Gen. Joselito Vera Cruz, PNP deputy chief for administration and head of the Administrative Support for Covid-19 Task Force (ASCOTF), said on August 3 that the police force had received 10,000 doses of the single-shot Janssen Covid-19 vaccine from the Department of Health.
He noted that the vaccines are packed in 2,000 vials and are made in America.
Police officers deployed to the National Capital Region Plus and those assigned to island regions would receive these vaccine doses, according to Vera Cruz.
