‘Bakunahan’ in typhoon-hit areas suspended

MANILA – The massive “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” Covid-19 vaccination drive in typhoon-hit areas will be suspended to give way for the disaster response and other relief operations, Presidential adviser on Covid-19 response Vince Dizon said Monday.

Dizon, also the deputy chief of the National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19, said national vaccination activities in Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas, Caraga, and other parts of Mimaropa, will be rescheduled until they recover from the onslaught of Typhoon Odette.

“Hindi muna natin sila pini-pressure na magbakuna dahil nga talagang napakabigat ng sinapit nila nitong mga nakaraang araw. Kaya siguro bibigyan muna natin sila ng pagkakataon na mag-recover (We are not pressuring them to vaccinate because they really have been through a terrible situation in the past days. So maybe we will give them a chance to recover first),” he said.

He, however, said the government will also mobilize teams in typhoon-hit areas that have the capacity to vaccinate within the evacuation centers.

“Opportunity yan para mabakunahan ang mga hindi pa nababakunahan. Pero prioritized muna natin yung relief at yung response at rehabilitation (That’s an opportunity for us to vaccinate those unvaccinated. But we will still prioritize the relief, response and rehabilitation),” Dizon added.

Meanwhile, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., NTF chief and vaccine czar, said they have already coordinated with Secretary Alfonso Cusi of the Department of Energy to prioritize the restoration of the power supply in storm-hit areas to make sure that the cold-chain storage facilities will be sustained.

“The government is working very hard to restore the services, including their basic needs for food and other relief items to alleviate the situation of the affected residents,” Galvez said.

“We will prioritize the calamity response and then later, we will assist them to restore the electricity in their areas,” he added.

He said only the Western Visayas Region has so far reported that there are about 100 Pfizer vials have been compromised during the onslaught of the typhoon.

Galvez said assessments in various vaccine warehouses and storage facilities are still ongoing.

“We will give the necessary report later. There is still ongoing assessment with our teams from the Department of Health,” he said.

The government is yet to determine how many vaccines were destroyed during the typhoon.