Metro Manila’s vaccine storage preps 'more than satisfactory', says Duque

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 7) — Cities so far inspected by the Interagency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) have “more than satisfactory” plans for vaccine handling and cold storage, the health chief said on Saturday.

IATF officials, through the so-called Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (CODE) Team Visit, have been making the rounds of cities and municipalities in Metro Manila ahead of the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines.

“More than satisfactory, if not really close to excellent. The level of preparation reflects the commitment… The evidence is there. We’ve seen it,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III told a press briefing.

CODE Team visits that began last week so far covered Makati, Quezon City, Manila, Malabon, Caloocan, Valenzuela, Marikina, Mandaluyong, Pasay, Paranaque, Muntinlupa and Navotas. More visits are expected in the coming weeks.

In Navotas, Duque and IATF co-chair Karlo Nograles inaugurated a cold storage facility the city has set up within school grounds — in The Navotas Polytechnic College.

Universities and schools are shut amid quarantine rules that forbid children and minors from leaving their homes, so many classrooms across the nation have been turned either into quarantine facilities or evacuation centers.

Navotas has allocated ₱20 million in budget for its vaccine procurement. It has so far signed a tripartite deal for 100,000 doses of British vaccine AstraZeneca for delivery in the second half of the year.

Navotas health officials said on Saturday that it also made arrangements for the purchase of 10,000 doses of Moderna vaccine, and another 40,000 doses of Pfizer under COVAX, an alliance led by the World Health Organization to give poor nations access to the vaccine.

Already, the city has bought two ultra-low temperature freezers for the Pfizer vaccine given the vaccine’s required minus 70 degrees Celsius storage temperature. Those freezers can store up to 257,000 doses.

Two more freezers were allocated for the Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines that need to be stored at 2 degrees Celsius to 8 degrees Celsius.

City health officials said the target is to give 107,000 Navotenos a dose, including those working in the city. They have drawn up a master list of who gets the vaccine, while beefing up an information campaign to convince those in the roster to take it. A vial of Pfizer is good for three doses, so planners try to avoid wastage.

“As long as we are assured there are no [duplications]. [If] they work in Navotas, we will provide the vaccine,” said Christia Padolina, Navotas City Health Officer.

To achieve herd immunity, 70% of the population would have to be vaccinated.

The Health department said local government vaccination plans must be aligned with President Rodrigo Duterte’s national immunization program.

But asked on the exact timetable for that national rollout, Duque said: “We cannot control yet when exactly the vaccines are coming, we don’t know what day, what time of the day, we don’t know which flight number.”

“But we are already preparing the groundwork so that when it comes, we will just execute,” the health chief added.