Senator Richard J. Gordon filed on Monday a bill that seeks to expand the country’s pool of vaccinators for the implementation of the government’s national program for immunization in times of epidemics, pandemics and national health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic that was declared as a global health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO).
“Since we have limited number of doctors, nurses and midwives that will aid in the COVID-19 vaccination program, we filed a bill that expands the pool of vaccinators of the DOH by training other professionals such as dentists, veterinarians, medical technologists and even those without medical background to be vaccinators,” said Gordon.
Section 1 of Senate Bill No. 1987 states that non-medical practitioners that will be part of the training will be allowed provided that that they will be given the appropriate training, certification and authority by the Department of Health (DOH), and that they will perform their duties under the supervision of a duly registered physician and for a limited period only contingent upon the existence of the national health emergency for which it is called.
According to DOH, there are only 617,239 health care workers, coming from both public and private health institutions, that will help in administering the COVID-19 vaccines.
“If we expand the manpower for the vaccination program, the government’s target of inoculating 50 to 70 million Filipinos to be able to achieve herd immunity or population immunity can be attained. Our proposed bill also aims to improve our Expanded Program on Immunization and achieve the government’s target of vaccinating 95% of the country’s total child population,” Gordon explained.
SB 1987 gives the Secretary of Health the authority to order for the training and certification of additional vaccinators in times of epidemic, pandemic and national health emergencies or when the government is in danger of not meeting its target in its yearly immunization due to lack of vaccinators.
