“Triple ingat.”
This was the appeal of Rizal 2nd District Rep. Fidel Nograles to local government units after a fire in a Department of Health building in Pagadian, Zamboanga del Sur destroyed more than 100,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses recently.
A Department of Interior and Local Government memorandum also states that vaccines should be administered within three days after LGUs receive them.
“Vaccines are basic necessities and we need to guard these to make full use of them, especially since the government is about to ramp up the deployment of these in the provinces. Triple ingat po tayo dahil kahit sapat na ang ating vaccine stockpile, kailangan pa rin i-roll out ang mga bakuna sa mga probinsya,” Nograles said.
On Sunday, a fire hit the maintenance supply area of the Integrated Provincial Health Office in Pagadian City, which laid to waste 9,176 AstraZeneca doses, 14,400 Moderna doses, 88,938 Pfizer-BioNTech doses and 36,164 Sinovac vaccines, along with other routine vaccines such as those for hepatitis, measles, and polio.
The lawmaker expressed concern over the lost vaccines and called for a thorough investigation into the incident.
Nograles also said the Pagadian incident should serve as a wake-up call to other LGUs to be aware of the various circumstances that could lead to vaccine spoilage.
“Sobrang nakakapanghinayang dahil mahigit sa daang-libong tao sana ang nabigyan na ng bakuna. Kailangang maimbestigahan para malaman natin ano ang nangyari para maiwasan ito sa ibang lugar,” said Nograles.
Nograles also said the Pagadian incident should serve as a wake-up call to other LGUs to be aware of the various circumstances that could lead to vaccine spoilage.
“We must consider introducing redundancies and fail-safes to ensure that our vaccines are safe 24/7,” the Harvard-trained lawyer said.
“And, most importantly, we must administer these vaccines as soon as we receive them. Hindi lang dahil may use-by date ang mga bakuna, kundi dahil karapatan ng mga kababayan natin na makuha sa lalong madaling panahon ang proteksyon na ito,” he added.
A Department of Interior and Local Government memorandum also states that vaccines should be administered within three days after LGUs receive them.
