Navotas holds dry run for vaccine rollout

Navotas City on Friday conducted a simulation of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination rollout.

The dry run was conducted at Navotas Polytechnic College (NPC), which houses the city's vaccine cold room.

“The drill will help us assess our readiness for the citywide COVID-19 immunization and enable us to see what needs to be improved on,” Mayor Toby Tiangco said.

“The first batch of vaccines is expected to arrive this February and we need to ensure that we are set and primed to execute the campaign. We aim to inoculate 1,500 daily and we want it to go as safe and smooth as possible,” he added.

Friday's simulation was the third in a series of dry runs that the city conducted to be ready for the vaccination rollout.

Scenarios included responding to a patient experiencing adverse reaction to the vaccine and transporting the vaccines from NPC to other inoculation sites.

Navotas has allotted an initial P20 million for its COVID-19 vaccination program. It aims to vaccinate 103,000 residents and non-residents who work in Navotas and aged 18 and above.  

The city has signed a tripartite deal to purchase 100,000 doses of Astrazeneca vaccines and sent order for 10,000 doses from Moderna. It also intends to buy 40,000 doses from Pfizer.

"These brands emerged as top choices of Navoteños when we conducted our informal survey in December last year. However, we are open to receiving other brands from the national government," Tiangco said.