WITH more vaccine supplies expected in the coming months, the Department of Health yesterday said it is looking at establishing “mega vaccination sites” that can serve at least half a million people daily.
“Initially, we will target 500,000 per day across all. We will see of we can still raise it depending on the demand and supply,” said Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
“We will speed up and widen our immunization program. We will have mega vaccination sites that will be identified and will start soon,” she also said.
One of the targeted sites is the old Nayong Pilipino Cultural Park in Pasay City.
She said Secretary Carlito Galvez, chief implementer of the National Task Force against COVID-19, has talked with Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat. “They agreed that we will open it as one of the mega vaccination sites,” she said.
The private sector has also committed to help in speeding up the vaccination rollout program which started on March 1.
“The private sector has committed to help for free by letting us use their large areas as vaccination sites together with their own work forces,” said Vergeire.
So far, the national immunization program has already reached 1.1 million individuals.
Vergeire said nearly 900,000 of those given COVID-19 jabs are healthcare workers, which is the Category A1 in the prioritization list.
The remainder of the total vaccinees, she said, would be senior citizens and people with comorbidities, which comprise the A2 and A3 priority sectors, respectively.
“When you look at our numbers, it is still nothing. It is still far off from our target. But, at least, we have started already,” said Vergeire.
On the other hand, she related that they have already tallied nearly 24,823 adverse events following immunization (AEFIs).
Of the total, AstraZeneca vaccinees accounted for 17,503 minor AEFIs and 206 serious side effects.
As for Sinovac vaccinees, there were 7,000 non-serious AEFIs, as well as 164 severe side effects.
“Up until now, the National Adverse Events Following Immunization Committee (NAEFIC) has not found any direct causality from the vaccines,” stressed Vergeire.
The Food and Drug Administration said it is looking into reports of blood clots among those vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccines.
FDA Director General Eric Domingo said the agency will use the reports as part of its evaluation of the application of the Belgian drug maker for an emergency use authorization (EUA).
He said based on reports submitted to the FDA, “the benefits of using it outweighs potential harm.”
Earlier, the US Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that vaccinations with the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine be temporarily halted amid reports of blood clotting.
Janssen filed its EUA application to the FDA just last March 31.
Aside from Janssen, still awaiting for its EUA from the FDA is Bharat Biotech, which filed its application last January 22.
Already issued EUAs are Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, and Gamaleya.
