Pinayagan na ng Commission on Higher Education (ChEd) ang mga medical at nursing students na maging Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccinators.
Base sa joint memorandum circular ng ChEd at Department of Health (DoH), kabilang sa mga papayagang maging COVID-19 vaccinators ang mga post-graduate, undergraduate interns, clinical clerks at 4th-year medicine maging ng mga nursing students.
Magiging gabay ang memorandum sa mga higher education institutions (HEIs), hospitals na mayroong national internship program at lahat ng governance levels na makikibahagi sa national COVID-19 vaccine program.
Ang naturang mga estudyante ay papayagan ding maging health screeners, vaccinators at vaccination monitors pero kailangan pa rin ng supervision ng lisensiyadong physicians at nurses.
Magsasanay daw ang mga volunteers sa pamamagitan ng mga health professionals.
Pasok naman sa internship ng mga volunteers ang guguguling oras sa pagiging vaccinators at sesertipikahan ito ng head ng vaccination team sa partikular na vaccination site kung saan sila nagbigay ng kanilang serbisyo.
“The government is now fast-tracking the vaccination rollout as more COVID-19 vaccines arrive in the country . . . For the second time, the country breached the 1 million daily target for vaccination. As we increase the number of vaccination sites and increase daily targets, these additional vaccinators and support staff are critical to achieve herd immunity in the next two months,” ayon kay ChEd chairman Popoy de Vera.
Una rito, ipinanukala na rin ng ChEd ang school-based vaccination sa lahat ng mga major private at public HEIs noon pang buwan ng Oktubre at sa ngayon ay nasa 61 HEIs na sa buong bansa ang tumalima rito.
“While more than 1 million college students have already been vaccinated, this is only about 30% of the target number. We need to rapidly vaccinate more students,” dagdag ni De Vera.
