Gov’t considers ‘Resbakuna sa Botika’ expansion outside NCR

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MANILA – As the country begins a pilot test of the “Resbakuna sa Botika” immunization effort on January 20, Presidential Adviser for Covid-19 Response Vivencio Dizon stated that the government intends to expand the initiative outside the National Capital Region (NCR).

In the Laging Handa public briefing on Wednesday, Dizon said the government aims to pilot test the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccination in pharmacies for one week before expanding this effort in other parts of the country.

He mentioned prominent pharmacies in Metro Manila that will participate in the “Resbakuna sa Botika,” including The Generics Pharmacy, Generika Drugstore, Healthway Clinic, Mercury Drug, Watsons, QualiMed, and Southstar Drug.

“Tomorrow, we will open four pharmacies in Metro Manila and on Friday, we will open three, including two clinics. And in the coming weeks, we will expand that. The goal is for us to bring our vaccination closer to our countrymen so that we can be vaccinated even faster and more people can be vaccinated,” he said in Filipino.

Dizon emphasized that only booster doses will be administered in the “Resbakuna sa Botika” participating pharmacies.

He added that pharmacists of partner drugstores will be administering the booster shots.

The National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF), he said, is just waiting for daily cases to slow down for the government to roll out another round of the National Vaccination Days nationwide.

As the country has reached the target of fully vaccinating 54 million individuals, the government now aims 77 million Filipinos to complete their Covid-19 vaccines by the end of the first quarter.

“So, all we ask Filipinos is that we go to the vaccination sites, especially when we roll out to pharmacies in various places in the Philippines, it will be even easier,” he added.

Walk-in allowed

Dizon stated that walk-in vaccinees are also permitted to receive booster shots, provided they complete an onsite registration process.

“Libre po ito; walang bayad ito, kagaya na rin ng mga bakunahan natin na mga LGU (local government unit) natin kaya wala pong problema ang ating mga kababayan dito at mas mapapadali pa sana sa kanila (This is free and with no charges, just like the vaccination being done by the LGUs, so there’s no problem for our countrymen and it would actually be easier for them),” he said.

Dizon stated that the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Department of Health (DOH) will operate an integrated system in collaboration with the participating pharmaceutical stores.

Earlier, NTF chief implementer, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., said the move will expand to other cities outside NCR and to other regions “based on readiness and safety inspections”.

He added that it would also alleviate the scarcity of vaccinators, as the government aims to fully vaccinate at least 90 million people by mid-year.

The latest data from the national Covid-19 vaccination dashboard show that the Philippines has so far administered 120,645,514 doses of Covid-19 vaccines nationwide, with 59,255,237 doses were used as first shots, 56,027,759 as second shots, and 5,362,518 as booster shots or additional doses.