CONCEPCION WANTS COVID JAB PRE-REGISTRATION

FOLLOWING reports that more than 31 million doses of anticoronavirus vaccines worth P15.6 billion went to waste, Go Negosyo founder Jose Ma. “Joey” Concepcion 3rd said there should be pre-registration for future mass vaccination programs.

“It was bound to happen. We need to learn from this experience and start pre-registering those who are willing to be vaccinated,” he said in a statement on Sunday.

He noted that in October, he offered to give the Department of Health (DoH) a list of employees from the private sector who were willing to be inoculated against Covid-19.

He likewise suggested for local government units to adopt the same scheme to determine who among their constituents were willing to get the vaccine.

“Through this pre-registration, we will minimize wastage,” Concepcion said.

Along with pre-registration, there must also be a clear set of guidelines to avoid delay and confusion.

“From our experience with the past rollouts, there is a need to lay down clear guidelines for vaccinations, so we avoid delay and confusion,” he said.

The Health Technology Assessment Council should also follow the guidelines of the country where the vaccine originated to avoid a repeat of delays in decision-making that prevented the private sector from using millions of its procured vaccines, which eventually expired.

Furthermore, Concepcion proposed that the government allow private hospitals and other health care facilities to procure the vaccines, which they can then pass on at cost to those who are eligible.

The government can then direct its resources to helping those who are eligible but cannot afford the vaccines.

Vaccines against Covid-19 have yet to become commercially available unless drug manufacturers secure a Certificate of Product Registration for their vaccines.

“I am glad that the DoH has been very receptive to suggestions from the private sector. We are hoping that, moving forward, the private sector and government will continue to work together to finally bring this pandemic to a close,” the former presidential adviser for entrepreneurship said.

Data released last week showed that the amount of wasted vaccines for this month were higher than the 20.6 million doses tallied last August worth around P10.33 billion.