February 28, 2021 — Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Director Gerardo Legaspi presented the preparations being done for the COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment for the hospital’s healthcare workers, employees, and other priority groups during the 40th Stop COVID Deaths Webinar entitled “How Will Health Workers Be Vaccinated Against COVID-19?” held on Feb. 12, 2021. Other presentors were Dr. Lito Acuin, Hospital Chief of the Asian Medical Center who shared the plans in private hospitals and Dr. Christia Padolina, City Health Officer of Navotas City, who talked about the preparations for the Navotas vaccine roll out.

The core message of all the presentations is the need for a systems approach for the whole country and within institutions in coordination and compliance with the protocols set by the Department of Health. The operative words are macroplanning with the DOH for prioritization and other guidelines and microplanning within the concerned institution leaving nothing to chance but with flexibility and attention to the littlest details.

For PGH, Dr. Legaspi presented the details of what he described as a “good but flexible plan” composed of subteams to support the planning and deployment. With Dr. Homer Co as Microplanning Coordinator, the subteams include Profiling, Registration, Logistics, Risk Assessment, and Communication; Community Engagement, Information, Education, and Communication; and Management of Adverse Effects.

“The primary goal is to protect people who directly handle COVID patients and people who support them, including outsourced staff who work in the hospital with the basic criteria that is anyone within the confines of the four walls of PGH. With a second tier of vaccinees that include professors emeriti and retirees, the list is estimated at 6,000,” Dr. Legaspi stated.

To guide the process, a MicroPLanning Document which contains all the necessary information and details was prepared. The first in the four-step plan was the generation of a masterlist as basis for the procurement of the right quantity of vaccines at the right time to ensure minimal or no wastage; identification of verification; checking for risk factors and eligibility; getting formal intention to receive or decline vaccination; and getting a vaccinations card with unique encrypted QR code to be used during actual vaccination day that includes a vacinee’s co-morbidities, medications, and treatments. 

The preparations for infrastructure, manpower, and supplies fall under this step. Planning for the physical layout on the actual day of the vaccination included the screening, actual vaccination, and monitoring; and managing adverse effects following immunization (AEFI). Identifying bottlenecks during vaccine deployment is part of the plan. 

The second step is the registration of the vaccinees for eligibility and intention to be vaccinated and the scheduling for vaccination. An alternative method of enrolling online for senior faculty, retirees, and Professors Emeriti using the PGH EMR Radish was provided.

Step three is Vaccination #1 (first shot) of eligible and consenting employees to be followed by the monitoring of AEFI onsite and monitoring and surveillance of long-term AEFI. With monitoring of AEFI identified as one bottleneck, Dr. Legaspi said more people will be assigned to this area, and with the inoculation itself seen as a quick step based on the simulation, an upscaling of the Monitoring Unit has been prepared.

The final step, Step 4, is Vaccination #2 for those who completed Vaccination #1 or step 3 and monitoring for both short- and long-term AEFI. 

To ensure that everything will go on smoothly as planned, simulation exercises not only of the actual vaccination and monitoring of AEFI but also of the arrival and storage of the vaccines, with the cold storage and temperature requirements to keep them in ideal condition, and vaccine preparation were held. 

During her synthesis of the presentations, UP Manila Chancellor Carmencita Padilla stated that transparency, reassuring messages, and the series of infographics and other information campaigns have raised the trust of the community on vaccination from 76% to 93% during the preregistration.

Cynthia M. Villamor

Published in UP Manila Healthscape Special COVID-19 Issue No. 24