LOOK: Alamin ang mga sagot sa mga Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) tungkol sa Emergency Use Authorization sa COVID-19 vaccines.

LOOK: Dr. Jaime Montoya said that getting vaccinated impacts the families and communities.

LET 2021 BIDA Best Year! Habang nagtatalaga tayo ng mga mas permanenteng sagot sa pandemya, hindi nating pwedeng ibaba ang ating depensa! Let's #BIDASolusyon + sa COVID-19!

Alam mo ba na ginugunita natin tuwing Enero 18 hanggang 24 ang ✨National Autism Consciousness Week?✨ Ang Pilipinong may Autismo, ay kakaiba, kasali, at konektado!

DOH PRESS RELEASE PR No: 2021-01-18-01 18 January 2021 ------------------------------ DOH STATEMENT ON CIRCULATING VACCINE PRICES Press Release | 18 January 2021 Following the recent circulation of vaccine prices reported by the Senate to have come from the Department of Health (DOH), the DOH clarifies that the said vaccine prices were indicative market prices based on the rates published by different manufacturers generated for the purpose of estimating the proposed budget for the vaccination program. These are not, in any way, the negotiated prices that the government and the manufacturer agreed on. The DOH urges the public to trust and respect the process that the country, through vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez, is undertaking to ensure that Filipinos are afforded the best vaccines at the most ideal prices. ###

DOH PRESS RELEASE PR No: 2021-01-18-01 18 January 2021 ------------------------------ DOH STATEMENT ON CIRCULATING VACCINE PRICES Press Release | 18 January 2021 Following the recent circulation of vaccine prices reported by the Senate to have come from the Department of Health (DOH), the DOH clarifies that the said vaccine prices were indicative market prices based on the rates published by different manufacturers generated for the purpose of estimating the proposed budget for the vaccination program. These are not, in any way, the negotiated prices that the government and the manufacturer agreed on. The DOH urges the public to trust and respect the process that the country, through vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez, is undertaking to ensure that Filipinos are afforded the best vaccines at the most ideal prices. ###

Let 2021 BIDA+ Best Year! Ang ating pinalakas na BIDA+ campaign ay sumisimbolo ng ating patuloy na pagpapalawak ng ating kaalaman para sa ating New Normal. Let's #BIDASolusyon + sa COVID-19!

Makiisa sa taunang gamutan o Mass Drug Administration ngayong Enero for a #HealthyPilipinas! 💚

DOH PRESS RELEASE PR No: 2021-01-18-01 18 January 2021 ------------------------------ DOH STATEMENT ON CIRCULATING VACCINE PRICES Press Release | 18 January 2021 Following the recent circulation of vaccine prices reported by the Senate to have come from the Department of Health (DOH), the DOH clarifies that the said vaccine prices were indicative market prices based on the rates published by different manufacturers generated for the purpose of estimating the proposed budget for the vaccination program. These are not, in any way, the negotiated prices that the government and the manufacturer agreed on. The DOH urges the public to trust and respect the process that the country, through vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez, is undertaking to ensure that Filipinos are afforded the best vaccines at the most ideal prices. ###

LOOK: Usec. Maria Rosario Singh-Vergeire expresses the importance of disseminating vaccine information in yesterday’s media forum.

In a media forum held last January 18, 2021, Health Undersecretary and Spokesperson Maria Rosario Singh-Vergeire stated that “further studies still has to be done” when asked about the reported deaths of the elderly in Norway after being inoculated with a Pfizer vaccine. She added that Norwegian authorities are still investigating on the matter.

Let 2021 BIDA+ Best Year! Ang ating mga karagdagang hakbang sa pag-iwas sa COntraVIDa ay bunga ng ating pinalakas na Minimum Public Health Standards! Let's #BIDASolusyon + sa COVID-19!

Alam mo ba na tuwing Enero o National Deworming Month, isinasagawa ng ating mga healthcare workers ang Oplan Goodbye Bulate? Ito ay ang malawakang pamamahagi ng gobyerno ng mga gamot pampurga sa mga bulate! Basahin natin ito para sa mga karagdagang detalye! 👀

LOOK: DOH Secretary Francisco T. Duque III, together with Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr and the UNILAB Team visited the Cold Storage Management and Logistics warehouse of UNILAB in Biñan, Laguna to ensure preparedness for the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine. This storage facility can accommodate approximately 5 million vaccine doses at any given time with the temperature requirement of +2 to +8C.

LOOK: Sec. Duque and Sec. Galvez visited RITM to check their cold storage facility which has the capacity to store vaccines with ultralow and +2 to +8 deg C temperature requirements

DOH PRESS RELEASE PR No: 2021-01-20-01 20 January 2021 ------------------------------ 8 EK332 CO-PASSENGERS, 5 CLOSE CONTACTS OF THE UK VARIANT INDEX CASE TEST POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 Press Release | 20 January 2021 The Department of Health (DOH) today confirmed that eight (8) co-passengers aboard Emirates Dubai-Manila Flight EK332 tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival here in the country. Moreover, the DOH confirmed that five (5) close contacts of the first confirmed UK variant case in the country also tested positive for the disease. The 8 co-passengers are all Filipino citizens who were tested via RT-PCR and quarantined upon arrival. Upon the release of positive RT-PCR results, the said passengers were immediately transferred to isolation facilities and their samples were secured from confirming laboratories for whole genome sequencing to determine the presence of the UK variant. However, preliminary analysis showed that samples from all positive cases yielded a Cycle Threshold value greater than 30, which indicates low viral load and entails the need for re-swabbing to secure samples for sequencing. As of press time, all 8 passengers are scheduled to be swabbed before Thursday, 21 January 2020. All 8 co-passengers are in stable condition and will remain under strict monitoring while completing isolation and while waiting for results of re-swabbing. Contact tracing also showed that the 8 cases had no close contact when they arrived, and infection and prevention control practices were strictly observed by personnel who attended to the said cases. Meanwhile, the 5 close contacts of the patient who recently tested positive are: ● his partner, who was aboard flight EK332 but tested negative upon arrival; ● 2 other co-passengers who also initially tested negative; ● another household member; and ● a healthcare worker from Quezon City who attended to the index case. Samples from all 5 close contacts who tested positive have been sent to the UP Philippine Genome Center (PGC) for sequencing, and the DOH is now awaiting the results to determine if they are also infected with the UK variant. All close contacts are currently isolated and under strict monitoring. The DOH extends its gratitude to the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Regional and Local Epidemiology and Surveillance Units, the Quezon City Local Government Unit, and Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong for their efforts in ensuring immediate and comprehensive contact tracing and response to mitigate further spread of the disease. The Health Department further reiterates that regardless of the variant, strict observance of the Minimum Public Health Standards remains to be the most effective strategy in preventing COVID-19 transmission and in reducing the chances of viral mutation. ###

You may now check out the 268th issue of DOH’s Beat COVID-19 Today: Philippine Situationer! ✨ Click here to view and download 👉🏼 bit.ly/3p3XuJn Note: Data as of yesterday, January 19, 2021 #BeatCOVID19 #WeHealAsOne #COVID19PH

DOH PRESS RELEASE PR No: 2021-01-20-02 20 January 2021 ------------------------------ PH RECEIVES CONFIRMATION OF COVAX PARTICIPATION; SOH, VACCINE CZAR INSPECT 3 COLD CHAIN FACILITIES IN PREPARATION FOR ROLLOUT Joint Press Release | 20 January 2021 The Philippines today received the country’s confirmation of participation in the COVID-19 vaccine financing instrument, COVAX Facility - Advance Market Commitment (AMC). The COVAX Facility is a global procurement mechanism which invests in a broad portfolio of promising vaccine candidates to support their research, development, and manufacturing. With the country’s participation in the COVAX Facility, the country is set to receive vaccines in the first quarter of this year. As part of the preparations for the COVID-19 vaccine deployment, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and Vaccine Czar Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. today visited three cold storage facilities that can potentially be used in the first wave of COVID-19 vaccine roll-out. The inspection was carried out to ensure that the cold chain facilities will meet the storage requirement of vaccines prior to its distribution to identified vaccination sites. The cold chain facilities visited were the First Pioneer Distribution Center of UNILAB located in Biñan City, Laguna, the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City, and the Zuellig Pharma Corporation in Parañaque City. According to UNILAB, their cold storage facility has a temperature range of +2 to +8 °C and can store a maximum of five million doses of vaccines. Meanwhile, Zuellig Pharma reported that its facilities can accommodate pharmaceutical products with temperature requirements ranging between -80°C to +25 °C. Zuellig further noted that its +2 to +8 °C cold rooms can store up to 629 million doses in various warehouses, its -15 to -25 °C walk-in freezers can hold up to 40 million doses, and its 14 ultra-cold freezers with -80 to -70 °C temperature range has the capacity to store up to 6.5 million doses. “The vaccine cluster, on behalf of the government, is grateful to UNILAB and Zuellig Pharma for partnering with the government in further strengthening the country’s capacity to curb the pandemic. We also express our commitment to ensure continued support for RITM in its preparations to receive vaccines,” Sec. Galvez said. RITM Director Dr. Celia Carlos revealed that RITM currently has four cold rooms with a +2 to +8 °C temperature range, one -20 °C walk-in freezer, and two borrowed ultra-low temperature freezers with a -70 to -80 °C temperature range. Presently, RITM commits its ultra-low temperature storage facility. With this, Sec. Galvez recommended the constitution of another team at the RITM exclusively handling the COVID-19 vaccine deployment, adding that a separate team for EPI (Expanded Program of Immunization) vaccines is ideal for an uninterrupted focus and roll-out of both immunization programs. Sec. Duque, on the other hand, noted that apart from cold chain facilities, the vaccine cluster is also in talks with third-party logistics providers to ensure efficiency of the entire supply chain management of COVID-19 vaccines, from the receipt of vaccines from the COVAX Facility to its deployment. “All of these preparations that we are undertaking are aimed at ensuring that the country is ready to receive, store, and mobilize the COVID-19 vaccines that will come from the COVAX Facility. We extend our thanks to our partners for their continued support to improve our cold storage capacity. We cannot make this endeavor a success if the government and the private sector work in silos. Our response has always been a whole-of-government, whole-of-society, whole-of-system approach,” Sec. Duque said. ###