DENTISTS can now serve as vaccinators as the government ramped up the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccination nationwide, a Department of Health (DOH) official said Thursday, October 28, 2021.
DOH Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said the agency authorized the inclusion of dentists as vaccinators following the coordination with the Professional Regulation Commission and the Philippine Dental Association.
“Upon the recommendation of the Board of Dentistry and concurrence of the PRC with authorization from the DOH... pwede na pong isama ‘yung mga dentist na bakunador basta may kaunting training (they can now serve as Covid-19 vaccinators provided that they undergo training),” Cabotaje said in an online media forum.
“They should be registered... tapos kailangan, they link with the local government unit. Ang supervisor ng dentist ay medical doctor. Pag sinabi natin supervisor, ibig sabihin may consent, alam ng doctor, ‘yung head ng implementing unit na meron siyang additional dentist (The dentist’s supervisor is a medical doctor. This means that there has to be consent from a medical doctor and that doctor, or head of the implementing unit knows that a dentist is helping in the vaccination),” she added.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier ordered local government units to ramp up their respective vaccination drives in order to meet the administration’s target of having 50 million fully vaccinated Filipinos to achieve population protection by the end of 2021.
Over 26 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
As of October 28, 23,727 adolescents aged 12 to 17 received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine.
The Philippines has so far received a total of 99,551,290 Covid-19 vaccines since February. (SunStar Philippines)