( MANILA BULLETIN)
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. recently announced that initial doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines are expected to be delivered in mid-February through the COVAX facility. The government is aiming to inoculate 70 million Filipinos by the end of this year.
As the public anticipates this vital initiative of the government against the pandemic, the question in mind would be:
Vaccine storage and distribution
There are two strategies to store COVID-19 vaccines as these require specific storage requirements, said Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
Vergeire said for vaccines requiring 2 to 8 degree Celsius and -20 degrees Celsius temperature, the supplier will deliver the vaccines to the DOH rented private warehouse or to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), “which will serve as the government’s centralized vaccine hub.”
endIndex:
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 3) The government wants to expand the country s capacity to do genome sequencing, which is the second test needed to identify which type of variant has infected a coronavirus-positive individual. Ngayon po, Philippine Genome Center lang po nagsasagawa ng sequencing natin. At gusto po natin na mai-expand ang kakayahan na ito para mas bumilis at mas marami po tayong ma-sequence na mga kababayan nating nagtu-turn positive, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a briefing.
[Translation: At present, only the Philippine Genome Center is conducting our sequencing. And we want to expand that capacity, so we can quickly sequence the samples of our fellow Filipinos who turn out positive for COVID-19.]
Published February 3, 2021, 3:41 PM
Senator Christopher “Bong” Go on Wednesday rated the country’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic response so far as “very good.”
Go, chairman of the Senate health and demography committee, however, cautioned against complacency as the public awaits the implementation of the national vaccination program.
Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go
(OFFICE OF SEN. BONG GO / MANILA BULLETIN)
During the launch of the 100th Malasakit Center at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City on Tuesday, February 2, Go said that the government was doing its best to combat the pandemic.
He also concurred with the World Health Organization (WHO) that the country’s pandemic response was “very good”.
(photo from Facebook)
The Malasakit Center is a program of the government that aims to be a one-stop hub for requesting assistance that will hasten the delivery of medical services and give patients access to free medicines and medical intervention.
During the inauguration, Department of Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said the event is a “critical milestone” in the mission to improve the Filipino people’s access to quality health care.
“It is only right that we celebrate the establishment of the 100th Malasakit Center here at RITM, as it proves that our initiatives are working, and that our citizens recognize our efforts to improve our services for their health and safety,” Duque said in his speech.
Published January 30, 2021, 2:41 PM
More local government units are opting to use antigen tests to detect and prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a testing advocate said.
According to LabX Corporation Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jose Miguel Vergara, “more local government units are turning to faster, cheaper, and more reliable antigen tests” amid the fight against the pandemic.
“[The] company has received more orders and inquiries for antigen test kits that boast of 96 percent sensitivity/accuracy and almost 100 percent specificity,” said Vergara in a statement.
LabX is the official Philippine distributor of Sofia 2 manufactured by US-based Quidel Corporation as well as FINA and AgILA antigen tests made by Lansion Biotechnology Co. Ltd (Lansion) of China, he said.