TO FURTHER boost the country’s vaccination against coronavirus disease (Covid-19) amid the continuous spike in cases, the National Government has tapped drugstores and health clinics to serve as vaccination sites.

Acting presidential spokesperson Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the “Resbakuna sa mga Botika” will be piloted in the following pharmacies and clinics in Metro Manila starting on Thursday, January 20, 2022:

* Healthway Manila clinic

* Mercury Drug Malate, Pres. Quirino Ave.

* South Star SSD Marikina

* Watsons, SM Supercenter Pasig

* Generika Drugstore Signal 1 in Taguig

* The Generics Pharmacy, Parañqaque

* Qualimed Clinic, McKinley Road in Makati

He said vaccination in these areas will be for booster jabs only and registration will still be made through local government units.

Nograles said each of the sites will be given 500 doses of Covid-19 vaccines per week.

National Task Force (NTF) deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon said tapping pharmacies and clinics for Covid-19 vaccination means additional manpower for the program.

“This will greatly assist po our local government units and the DOH para po dagdag po itong mga personnel para magbabakuna,” said Dizon.

“At the same time po, madi-decentralize pa po natin more iyong ating bakunahan, instead of just being focused on the big vaccination sites. We will have smaller but more widely spread vaccination sites in the form of our botikas,” he added.

The National Government is racing against time as cases of Covid-19 in the country continue to soar.

Despite the increase in cases, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said Covid-19 admissions remain low, attributing it to the vaccination.

“‘Yung severe cases natin tumaas din mula noong nag-umpisang tumaas from July all the way tapos makikita natin bumagsak pagpasok ng January ‘no. So nagpapakita na talaga ‘yung bakuna natin ang laking tulong sa pagbigay proteksiyon laban sa severe and critical cases,” he said.

So far, a total of 55,583,592 persons were fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in the Philippines, of which 5,131,203 have received their booster shots, while 59,031,437 got their first jab.

As of January 17, the country has a total of 290,938 active Covid-19 cases.

The Philippines has a total of 52,929 deaths and 2,898,507 recoveries. (SunStar Philippines)