The national government has finalized the Philippines’ mass vaccination drive program against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), which is expected to start next month with the arrival of vaccines.

A memorandum dated January 26, 2021 of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases issued Resolution No. 95 approved the “Philippine National Deployment and Vaccination Plan for Covid-19 Vaccines” outlining the requirements of the vaccination drive against the virus. It was signed by National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr., Defense Secretary and NTF chairperson Delfin Lorenzana, and Interior Secretary and NTF vice chairman Eduardo Año.

The 118-page vaccine plan enjoins all government regional offices and local government units (LGUs) to put up vaccination operations centers (VOCs) the soonest time possible.

“The implementing units such as government hospitals (both private and public), private clinics, government agencies, rural health units) shall forward all concerns and reports to the City/Municipal Health Offices. The City/Municipal Health Offices, in turn, are required to report all concerns and updates to the VOC,” the vaccine plan stated.

“All reports and unsettled issues of a VOC shall be raised to the overseeing VOC. The overseeing VOC, on the other hand, shall provide feedback and provide recommendation to the reporting VOC,” it added.

The vaccine deployment plan also includes the linelisting and registration before the vaccination process, and the priority groups for vaccination.

“This (linelisting and registration) could be done through an online or offline platform developed by the DICT, and DOH’s KMITS and EB. From the masterlist, eligible populations for specific vaccines will be culled out and accessed by appropriate regions or LGU for registration, scheduling, mapping-out on appropriate vaccination sites and advisory,” the vaccine plan stated.

DICT is the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the DOH is the Department of Health.

The two priority groups for vaccination are: Group A that includes frontline health workers, senior citizens, indigent population and uniformed personnel; and  Group B that includes other frontline workers and special populations.

Group C are those from remaining members of the population.