GENERAL SANTOS CITY – National Task Force against COVID 19 Chief Implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr visited this city to personally assess the health situation and provide guidance to local officials for the more efficient rollout of the immunization program.

GenSan has been identified as one of the “centers of gravity” in the country due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases. The city’s proximity to Indonesia and Malaysia also poses a health risk, as these countries are experiencing surges in coronavirus cases due to the Delta variant.

During a dialogue with the SOSCKARGEN Region’s provincial governors, city mayors, and regional directors of various national government agencies in Region 12 on Tuesday, July 20, the vaccine czar underscored the importance of having sufficient cold storage facilities, as well as reliable cold chain solution partners for local government units (LGUs).

“Dapat maalam tayo sa cold chain distribution, sa cold chain facility dahil mahihirapan kayo. If you have the cold chain capacity, we can even deliver the vaccine directly to the intended provinces and cities,” Galvez said.

“You can also look at developing hospital-based capacity for cold storage similar to Western Mindanao and Northern Mindanao where their vaccine supplies are stored in hospitals,” he added.

Galvez said that the cold storage capacity of local government units is among the key factors being considered by the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) in vaccine deployment per region. (National IATF News)