The government’s national cold-chain and logistics partner has geared up for the scheduled three-day nationwide vaccination program dubbed as “Bayanihan Bakunahan” from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1. PharmaServ Express assured that the cold-chain facility in Marikina City has enough capability to package and distribute the various COVID-19 vaccine brands that require different temperatures at any given time. In addition, the Filipino-owned cold-chain facility uses a biothermal case system in packaging the vaccines for safe delivery to various local government units (LGUs).
PharmaServ Express also has more than sufficient manpower and ground assets to transport the vaccines throughout the Philippines via land, sea, and air. PharmaServ has vast experience in transporting vaccines to far-flung areas of the country. In 2019, it helped the Department of Health (DOH) and UNICEF’s campaign to stop the measles and polio outbreaks that both occurred 2019 in various parts of the country. Due to its timely and efficient delivery of vaccines even to far-flung areas of the Philippines, PharmaServ Express helped in ending the polio outbreak this year.
President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday (Nov. 24) issued Presidential Proclamation No. 1253, declared Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 as “Bayanihan, Bakunahan National COVID-19 Vaccination Days”. The Chief Executive has directed all government agencies and instrumentalities to extend all possible support to the DOH and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the National Task Force Against COVID-19 for the successful implementation of Proclamation No. 1253. “Employees and workers of the government and the private sector, who will be vaccinated during the aforesaid period, shall not be considered absent from their work, provided that they present proof of vaccination to their respective employers,” President Duterte said.
The three-day vaccination program aims to inoculate 15 million individuals across 16 regions outside Metro Manila to boost the country’s inoculation rate. This would help the government achieve its goal of inoculating at least 54 million Filipinos before end-December. So far, 34,199,500 individuals have been fully vaccinated against the virus. The country has enough supply for the three-day vaccination drive as it has already received 135,161,900 doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
Aside from providing the cold-chain facility for the COVID-19 vaccines, the Filipino-owned cold-chain firm also oversees the packaging and distribution of doses to various local government units all over the country. Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez recently praised PharmaServ Express’ cold-chain facility as “world-class” due to its ability to store various brands of COVID-19 vaccines with different temperature requirements. Israeli medical experts who recently visited the country to help in managing the pandemic also described PharmaServ’s cold-chain facility as “excellent” and praised the cold-chain company’s packaging and distribution method that ensures the safety and efficacy of vaccines.
