Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 16) — Senator Nancy Binay urged the Department of Health to remind local government units on the proper handling of COVID-19 vaccines to avoid wastage.
Binay made the remark after over 300 vials of Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccines in a Cotabato town were spoiled after being kept in a freezer without electricity.
The senator said LGUs should be provided with checklists and briefers, as well as provincial health facilities they can refer to in case of emergency situations like brownouts, typhoons, floods, or the lack of storage facilities.
“Let’s avoid oversight and carelessness on the ground given the complicated handling and logistics involved in bringing the vials to islands and far-flung areas,” she said in a statement. “Ulit-ulitin po sana ng DOH ang pagpapaalala sa mga LGU na sundin ang handling protocols nang hindi masayang ang mga bakuna (The DOH should keep on reminding LGUs to follow handling protocols so that vaccines will not be wasted).”
Binay also called on cities and municipalities to introduce redundancies and constant monitoring in the process to avoid possible lapses.
“Di naman siguro kailangan pa tayong umabot sa point na kumuha ng ‘pridyider czar’ para lang i-monitor kung nasa maayos na storage ang mga bakuna. SOP (standard operating procedure) na dapat ang constant checking and counter-checking sa bawat stage ng proseso,” she said.
[Translation: I’m hoping that we will not reach the point where we will need to appoint a ‘pridyider czar’ to monitor if the vaccines are properly stored. Checking and counter-checking of each stage of the process should already be an SOP.]
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier also wanted to ensure the proper handling and immediate distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. said there are over 5 million doses remaining in the inventory that must be used up as soon as possible.
