Nat’l vaccination drive prepares for wet season

MANILA – The government will set up drive-through vaccination sites and use hotel ballrooms and malls to ensure the continuity of inoculation even during the rainy season.

National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Saturday among the sites that will be made available is the Nayong Pilipino property in Parañaque City.

Local government units, like Quezon City and Makati City, have started utilizing drive-thru centers.

“Considering that we will have the rainy season this coming June, we have some sort of collective recommendation that instead of a drive-thru, we will use malls and ballrooms of the hotels and also we will use other concrete and covered places,” Galvez said in an interview.

Pasay City has partnered with SM Mall of Asia for the initial operation of the country’s largest vaccination hub, which can accommodate at least 2,000 daily.

Taguig and Parañaque also use malls as jabs sites.

“Kung makikita natin (As we see) geographically, marami tayong (we have a lot of) malls that can be used as vaccination centers so that’s what we are eyeing, because it’s sustainable and also very comfortable, at the same time, it would be very convenient for the public to go there,” he said.

Galvez said planning the sites must include preparations for highly-sensitive vaccines, such as Sputnik V, Pfizer, and Moderna, that will be arriving in the coming weeks and will require sub-zero temperature storage facilities.

To date, the Philippines has 3,505 active vaccination sites nationwide.