Medical, nursing students, makikiisa sa vaccination efforts ng gobyerno

SINABI ni National Task Force Against Covid-19 special adviser Dr. Teodoro Herbosa na may mga senior medical at nursing students ang makikiisa upang maging kabahagi ng Covid-19 vaccination rollout efforts ng pamahalaan bilang volunteer vaccinators.

Aniya, nakatakdang mag-sign up ang mga ito upang maging volunteer vaccinators.

Sinabi ni Herbosa na ang pagkuha ng mas maraming tao para magbakuna ay “susi” para sa mas mabilis na vaccination rollout.

Sa kabilang dako, winelcome naman ni Herbosa ang pagdating sa bansa ng 561,600 doses ng Pfizer vaccine na dinonate ng Estados Unidos sa pamamagitan ng COVAX Facility, araw ng Lunes.

Ang vaccination rollout ay bumagal mula sa dating 700,000 doses na ibinabakuna kada araw ay naging 400,000 doses na lamang ito.

“But I think with the volume of vaccines arriving, we should be able to catch up by next week. The key really is getting more vaccinators to volunteer,” ayon kay Herbosa sa isang panayam.

Nagkaroon naman ng pag-uusap sa National Vaccination Operations Center sa pagitan ng medical at nursing schools at Commission on Higher Education na inaprubahan na payagan ang mga senior medical at nursing students na maging volunteer sa iba’t ibang vaccination sites.

Sa oras na maaprubahan, sinabi ni Herbosa na ang karagdagang manpower ay makapagpapabilis na sa vaccination program.

“Alam ko pretty soon ‘yan kasi  even before this agreement the medical students are already undergoing training, they joined some of our vaccination training, we are just waiting for final approval,” ayon kay Herbosa.

“And then we discovered that in a crisis the Department of Health can deputize our medical students so there’s a legal basis to actually use medical students even if they’re not yet licensed for medicine,” dagdag na pahayag nito.

Aniya, ang mga volunteers na magsa- sign up bilang vaccinators ay maaaring bigyan nghonoraria at transport allowances.

Samantala, kasama naman sa nag-welcome sa huling shipment ng Pfizer vaccine ay sina NTF medical consultant Dr. Ma. Paz Corrales, Department of Health Undersecretary Carolina Vidal-Taiño, UNICEF Philippines’ chief of Health and Nutrition Dr. Malalay Ahmadzai, US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Heather Variava at Health Director Michelle Lang-Alli from USAID Philippines. (Daris Jose)