More Metro Cebu pharmacies to serve as venue for booster shots soon– OPAV

Health officials met with representatives of the different pharmacies in Metro Cebu to discuss the government’s “Resbakuna sa Botika” program. | OPAV photo

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu – More Metro Cebu pharmacies have joined the government’s “Resbakuna sa Botika” program and will soon serve as additional venue for administering booster shots.

And instead of implementing the program separately, this will now be “integrated” into the existing vaccination campaigns of the different Local Government Units here, a statement from the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) said.

“This way, the rollout will be faster as it becomes a shared responsibility with DOH providing for manpower for vaccinators, LGUs for data management personnel, and pharmacies for augmentation team,” the OPAV statement reads.

“Also, the already working system will avoid vaccine wastage and is geared towards sustainability,” it added.

On Wednesday, Cebu City opened its first drug store that administers COVID-19 shots to the public.

READ: Cebu City opens 1st drug store to administer booster shots

“After the successful pilot run of “Resbakuna sa Botika” at the Rose Pharmacy in JY Square, Cebu City on February 2, more pharmacies in Metro Cebu intend to participate in the program aimed at giving COVID-19 booster shots in a bid to expand access to the life-saving jabs,” OPAV said.

In a meeting held in Mandaue City on Friday, February 4, OPAV said, “the roadmap to a faster expansion of the program had been laid out, focusing first in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, and Talisay, and Minglanilla town until the system is refined to be cascaded to other parts in Central Visayas.”

And “instead of implementing the program independently, it was agreed to integrate it to the existing LGU vaccination, thereby treating pharmacies as additional venues.”

Friday’s meeting was organized by the Visayas COVID-19 Vaccination Operations Center through OPAV, ITAF-Visayas, and the Department of Health. It was attended by DICT Visayas Cluster 2, FDA-7 and representatives from the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, Drugstores Association of the Philippines- Cebu and Philippine Pharmacists Association- Cebu.  Also present were representatives of Rose Pharmacy, Mercury Drug Corp., Watsons, Three Sixty Pharmacy, La Nueva, Bing Pharmacy, Ever Care Pharmacy and July Pharmacy,