Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 30) — The Philippines is preparing for the anticipated arrival of COVID-19 vaccines in the country by creating a task force to oversee their distribution.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has formed the COVID-19 Immunization Program Management Organizational Structure, its spokesperson Harry Roque said on Friday.
The group will be under the National Task Force Against COVID-19. It will be led by the Department of Health, which was ordered to immediately convene the Task Group COVID-19 Immunization Management.
“The creation of a task force is to ensure the successful and efficient deployment of COVID-19 vaccines to target population,” Roque said in a statement.
There was no mention if a vaccine czar would be appointed. The Duterte administration has named other czars to respond to the pandemic, such as officials to oversee testing, isolation, treatment, and contact tracing efforts.
The Food and Drug Administration says senior citizens and those who cannot afford to purchase the vaccines are on top of the immunization priority list, while President Rodrigo Duterte wants police personnel and soldiers to be one of the first groups to be inoculated with the vaccine.
The FDA reiterated that there is still no COVID-19 vaccine registered in the Philippines.
