More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
 |
| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/11/17/2224314/villar-hailed-2022-government-hero-international-body |
Just kidding! This lady, a member of the oligarchy, is being awarded for holding raffles to encourage otherwise hesitant people to get injected with the experimental COVID vaccine. What a joke. Meanwhile nurses and the health workers are HOPING their pay will arrive.Deputy Speaker and Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar has been named as the Government Hero of the Year by the prestigious Stevie Awards for Women in Business, in ceremonies held at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas last Nov. 11.
Villar was honored under the COVID-19 response category for her remarkable work during the COVID-19 pandemic and, as such, the Stevie Award judges have determined that the Gold Stevie Award be awarded to her.
“It is truly an honor to be recognized by Stevie Awards for our work, particularly in our fight against COVID-19. I am grateful to the board of judges for acknowledging the vaccine incentives program that we established, called May Bahay sa Bakuna, to boost the vaccine uptake of our constituents in Las Piñas,” she said after receiving news of the award.
Villar launched May Bahay sa Bakuna in mid-2021 to encourage the once hesitant residents of Las Piñas to get vaccinated against COVID, in exchange for entries to raffle bonanza that rewards lucky winners with non-monetary benefits, which included grocery items, motorcycles and a brand-new house and lot package.
The Government Hero of the Year category is given to “female government employees who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in 2020-2022 to keep us safe and informed” amid the pandemic.
“I share this award with our local government officials, city health officers as well as our constituents who continue to serve with passion despite the difficulties during the pandemic,” the House leader said.
A group of healthcare workers is hoping that the government will release their delayed COVID-19 benefits before Christmas.
According to Alliance of Health Workers president Robert Mendoza, many hospitals in the regions have yet to receive their benefits.
"Umaasa kami na mababayaran bago mag-Pasko 'yung ating mga healthcare workers," he told ANC's "Headstart" on Friday.
(We hope that our healthcare workers will be paid before Christmas.)
Mendoza said healthcare workers were still waiting for their allowance for July to December 2021 and July 2022 to present.
San Carlos City in Negros Occidental has turned its coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) mobile application into an all-around e-services app that allows users to get news updates and track the status of requested documents and business-related transactions.
The local government unit (LGU)-developed Vamos Cares community mobile app was initially rolled out as a Covid-19 contact tracing tool called Vamos or Viral Assessment and Monitoring System at the height of the pandemic in 2020.
The name reflects the “Vamos, San Carlos!” tagline of the province’s northernmost locality.
Almost a year later, the app has been upgraded to become the Vamos Cares or Community App for reliable e-Services.
“Being a performing city, the LGU of San Carlos must continue to develop, adjust, change and create new capabilities that aligns sustainability with better service. Vamos significantly aided in growing our efforts, particularly (when) the Covid-19 pandemic struck,” Joseph Binghay, officer-in-charge of the Information Technology and Computer Services Office (ITCSO), said in a video message to mark the second year of Vamos Cares.
As of Thursday, the app’s newest update, Vamos Newsfeed, has now been made available and provides daily news articles, updates, and announcements from around the city, and allows users to also like and post a comment on articles.
“We are encouraging other government offices, agencies and organizations to also announce and share news that’s relevant and related to the city. We can provide a link where you can share your announcements and news,” the ITCSO said.
A feature called Document Tracking (DocTrack), a tool which monitors the status and whereabouts of relevant documents, is now also online.
Through DocTrack, the user can search, view and access the information related to a certain document.
Government employees can track the status of their documents such as payrolls, letters, travel order and application for leave, while business owners and suppliers can also track the status of their business applications, renewal, purchase orders and payments.
Using the feature, national government offices, non-government organizations and private companies can monitor the status of their letter requests and other pertinent documents, while citizens may also track their documents pertaining to certain government transactions.
“With this new update, users can easily track their documents by entering their document number into the search bar or by simply scanning the supplied QR (quick response) code,” the ITCSO said.
Aside from news and announcements and document tracking, Vamos Cares also has features on emergency response, law enforcement, medical information, utility bills and payments, business permits and taxes, e-tickets, events and reservations, and tourism and marketing.
About P15.6 billion worth of COVID-19 vaccines or 31.3 million doses were either wasted or not used, Sen. Pia Cayetano revealed during deliberations on the proposed 2023 budget for the Department of Health (DOH) last night.
Cayetano, who sponsored the DOH budget proposal, made the statement in response to queries by Sen. Risa Hontiveros on vaccine wastage, doses received, rate of vaccine wastage and estimate of wastage cost.
“The total wastage is 31.3 million and that is 12 percent of the total, which we will add is within the allowed percentage of wastage. But of course, this does not mean that just because it is in the allowed percentage DOH is not striving to improve that number,” Cayetano said after conferring with DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire.
She noted that the country received a total of 250.38 million doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.
Among the reasons cited for the wastage are expiration, short shelf life, damage due to natural disaster as well as damage due to temperature, discoloration and particulate or floating matters.
Even given these, Cayetano stressed that the amount of wasted vaccine is within the allowable wastage set by the World Health Organization, which increased it from 10 percent to 30 percent after many countries experienced some wastage partly due to vaccine hesitancy.
She added that the COVAX Facility had already replaced 300,000 doses of the total wastage.
Hontiveros said she hoped that lessons were learned to improve vaccination in the country and avoid the waste of money.
Senator Christopher Lawrence Go on Monday said he is willing to launch an inquiry on the reported wastage of Covid-19 vaccines in the government and private sector.
Go said the public has the right to know what happened.
"It is our right to know why there was excess in supplies. Why were they wasted? We should know what really happened so it will not be repeated and there will be no more wastage," Go said in an interview.
Among the reasons cited for the wastage are expiration, short shelf life, damage due to natural disasters and improper temperature, discoloration, and presence of particulate or floating matters.
Go recalled that the government was in a hurry to purchase Covid-19 vaccines at the time when they were scarce.
"We really made sure that there will be no vaccine shortages. Now, there was an oversupply because others no longer want to be vaccinated," he said.
Go said if there will be a need for the Committee on Health, which he chairs, to look into the non-disclosure agreement between the previous administration and pharmaceutical companies on the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines, he is open to invite former officials who were involved in the signing.
"If we need to summon the previous secretaries involved in the signing of the non-dislcosure agreement, I am for transparency. I'm sure former president [Rodrigo] Duterte is for transparency also," he said.
More importantly, Go wants the vaccination campaign to be strengthened.
 |
| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/11/21/2225381/us-donates-p286m-accelerate-rollout-covid-19-jabs |
But will the USA be offering any help to combat the deadly cholera and diarrhea outbreaks?The United States will donate $5 million (P286.81 million) to accelerate the COVID-19 vaccination rollout in the Philippines, US second gentleman Douglas Emhoff announced Monday.
The husband of US Vice President Kamala Harris said the aid is seen to “intensify and strengthen this country’s wall of immunity.” The assistance will be provided through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Washington has committed over $51 million (P2.92 billion) in assistance and has donated 33.6 million COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines since the health crisis began.
More than 73.6 million individuals have completed COVID-19 vaccination in the Philippines. However, only 20.76 million have gotten booster shots.
Emhoff added that the US government has provided about $130 million (P7.45 billion) to support the country’s efforts to eliminate tuberculosis.
“Through our combined efforts, the Philippines has made progress in fighting COVID-19 while ensuring continuity of other important health services like tuberculosis testing and treatment,” he said during his visit at the Gregoria De Jesus Elementary School in Caloocan City.
In a release, the US government said it will invest $8 million (P458.86 million) “subject to the availability of funds” to strengthen our global health security partnership with the Philippine health system, which will help prevent avoidable outbreaks, detect health threats early, and respond rapidly and effectively when outbreaks occur.”
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Cabinet officials must step in to boost the country’s COVID-19 immunization program amid reported vaccine wastage, Senator Risa Hontiveros said on Monday.However, for Senator Ronald dela Rosa, the government cannot be blamed for the wastage.
Department of Health (DOH) figures earlier showed that some 31 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, amounting to around P15.6 billion, have been wasted.
Although the vaccine wastage rate continues to increase, Hontiveros said that “efforts to curb it have been ineffective so far.”
(We do not have the luxury of throwing more than P15.6 billion amid the crises and demand for funding of equally important government programs.)
“More importantly, the President and entire cabinet should step in to ensure an accelerated vaccination program. After all, their policies create the public perception that the pandemic is over, which is why the public became complacent and did not opt for vaccines and boosters,” she went on.
The DOH, the senator said, knows the vaccine wastage drivers. Therefore, she trusts that the agency can ramp up its efforts to lower wastage.
Meanwhile, dela Rosa raised that the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines must be promoted.
(Maybe, we have to educate the public more on public awareness of the benefits of vaccines. We may have to promote that.)
The government, Dela Rosa stressed, is not to blame for the matter.
(We cannot blame the government for preparing for that because there is challenging to procure vaccines. We cannot say why there is an oversupply or over-procurement.)
(We cannot say that because there is a factor that some Filipinos do not want to get vaccinated.)
The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday said it registered 695 new infections of COVID-19, with active cases now down to 17,550.
With this, the country’s COVID-19 caseload is now at 4,027,469 nationwide, with 3,945,419 recoveries and 64,500 deaths.
These new infections are much lower than the average daily infections recorded from Nov. 14 to 20 at 1,296, as well as the recorded cases on Monday at 938.
THE Bohol Police Provincial Office (BPPO) has ordered all police station chiefs in the province to come up with ideas that will minimize or eliminate the rising number of road accidents in the province.
BPPO Chief Colonel Lorenzo Batuan said he already instructed his men to coordinate with rent-a-car and motorcycle operators in their respective jurisdiction by providing them safety driving tips, which they can share to their customers.
Batuan said they have noticed a rise in vehicular accidents since the lifting of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) restrictions and most of the people involved were visitors who came to Bohol for a tour.
(That’s my directive to our policemen to be pro-active and reach out to rent-a-car operators in order to minimize road accidents.)
No comments:
Post a Comment