House vaccine rollout temporarily suspended
THE House of Representatives on Thursday announced that its coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination rollout scheduled this Friday and Saturday was temporarily suspended after administering vaccines from China’s Sinovac Biotech since last Monday.
This developed as the Senate continues its unhampered vaccination program with AstraZeneca jab after using Sinovac and Russian-made Gamaleya’s Sputnik V vaccines for senators and their staff that started last week of April 2021.
Bataan Rep. Jose Enrique Garcia III, head of Congress Vaccination Program, said the initial allocation of vaccines received by the House of Representatives from the government was already used.
“We’ve already used up our initial vaccine allocation. We’ll wait for the additional allocation hopefully by next week,” Garcia said. “Like LGUs (local government units) we just have to wait for actual deliveries.”
“By the end of the day (Thursday), less than 1,000,” Garcia added when asked how many employees have been vaccinated.
The House of Representatives officially began administering Sinovac jab to some lawmakers as well as regular and contractual employees last Monday under the priority groups, A2 or senior citizens and A3 or individuals with comorbidities.
A1 or healthcare workers and medical frontliners of the House of Representatives were vaccinated one week before the formal vaccination rollout.
While the vaccine rollout continued Thursday, the Congvax@HouseWeb informed Thursday morning the employees that the scheduled inoculation this Friday and Saturday was postponed.
“We wish to inform you that the House of Representatives’ (Hrep) Vaccination Program (CONGVAX) will temporarily suspend its operations on May 14 and 15, 2021 due to circumstances beyond HRep’s control,” the HRep CONGVAX said. “We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you.”
“Rest assured that the House leadership, together with the HRep Officials will do their best to restore the CongVax Program operations and advise you accordingly,” it added.
