The National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) will let the next administration decide on the fate of the country’s coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) inoculation program.
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, who also chairs the NVOC, said the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19, and the vaccination cluster will endorse all the programs to the next administration.
“We will leave it up to them. But the IATF, as the overall head of the NTF and even our vaccine cluster, is prepared to hand over the documents and to brief. We just await kung ano iyong directions ng susunod na (what will be the directions of the next) administration,” Cabotaje said during a televised public briefing.
“Of course, we will also defer to whoever is the new Secretary. Alam naman natin (We also know) that the IATF is lodged with the Department of Health (DOH) and then the measures and the vaccination are largely with the department.”
She said the DOH has started endorsing the pandemic responses to its different concerned bureaus “to institutionalize” the works of the NVOC, including the works of the IATF.
Cabotaje added that the health department has also introduced the mandate of the Response, Vaccination, and Integration clusters so that the gains of the pandemic responses would be sustained.
“Bahala na po ang susunod na administration kung ano po iyong direksiyon, kung magkakaroon sila ng inter-agency, (kung) itutuloy ba iyong parang structure ng NTF o gagawa sila ng panibagong (It is up to the next administration to decide on the direction, whether they would have an inter-agency or continue the NTF structure or create a new) structure,” she said. (PNA)
