Unified COVID-19 vaccine registry to include those at risk, vulnerable to virus
(Eagle News) — Philippine health care workers will be the first to be immunized against COVID-19 in the country, with the vaccinators also prioritized to be given the vaccine doses so they will be protected while they give the shots to other vulnerable sectors of the community.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the Department of Health is now in the process of completing the Phase 1 of the masterlist of those to be given the COVID-19 vaccines. The masterlist will be encoded in a centralized COVID-19 Electronic Immunization Registry (CEIR)
Those included in the Phase 1 Masterlist are the workers of the country’s frontline health facilities. The masterlist will also do the profiling of the health and non-health care workers of all frontline health services, including hospitals.
This masterlist will be completed by February 15.
“This (masterlisting) is an integral part of data management para maisapatupad ng maayos ang ating pagbabakuna” the DOH official said.
“Due to the limited supply of covid-19 vaccines globally, we need to do prioritization. Kaya po kailangan mailista natin lahat ng at-risk, lahat ng vulnerable para po sila ang uumpisahan natin at tayo ay magkaroon ng maayos na pagbabakuna,” she said.
-COVID-19 electronic immunization registry-
She noted that this listing and determining the eligible population is needed to “guide operational planning.”
All the information on the masterlist will be consolidated and “directly encoded to the COVID-19 electronic immunization registry” or the CEIR. This registry came about through the efforts of the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Information, Communication and Technology (DICT).
All health facilities with existing vaccine information systems can also upload to this masterlist or registry using the csv format, she said.
Information can then be accessed and linked with other information systems, enabling a “seamless integration” of information.
There will also be a service delivery network where a “unique identifier” for each individual in the masterlist for immunization or CEIR will be in place. This will prevent duplication of entries and will enable proper tracking of those vaccinated, Vergeire said.
Vergeire said there was a pre-submission on the masterlist of health workers and that this is almost complete.
“There is also masterlisting of the vaccination work force. Mina-masterlist din po yung mga magbabakuna sa ating mga kababayan,” Vergeire noted.
All other platforms for COVID-19 registry will also be linked. These include the COVID-Kaya platform, Stay Safe, Tanod Kira, and other COVID-19 data repository system.
For the monitoring of cases, Vergeire said that this would be done through a system called “digiflow” where advserse effects among those vaccinated will be reported.
All these systems will be unified in one platform, she said, to “ensure a seamless integration of data coming from all sectors, areas.”
Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., had earlier said that health workers are those targeted primarily for the first shots of the COVID-19 vaccines, followed by others in the frontlines, inluding the military, police, and others who would assist in the vaccination program.
He said that this was mandated under the World Health Organization (WHO) COVAX Facility through which the Philippines will get the first doses of the vaccines.
(Eagle News Service)