The Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) has vowed to have all the people in the Visayas regions inoculated against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) by the end of 2021.

OPAV chief, Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino, in a statement Thursday promised to lobby for enough supply of vaccines for the Western, Central and Eastern Visayas regions and called on the regional offices of the Department of Health (DOH) to submit to their office the number of vaccines needed weekly.

However, Dino said the local government units (LGUs) must ensure their capability to implement an orderly and efficient community vaccination program in Cebu and the rest of the Visayas.

This can be achieved by the LGUs by using the Visayas Vaccination Operations Center (VVOC) vaccination manual prepared by Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF)-Visayas chief implementer Melquiades Feliciano in coordination with OPAV, DOH-7 and in partnership with the Project Balik Buhay (PBB), he said.

On Wednesday, Dino and Feliciano turned over the Covid-19 vaccination operations manual to Cebu LGUs at the VVOC in Oakridge Business Center in Mandaue City.

Senator Christopher Lawrence ‘Bong’ Go, chair of the Senate Committee on Health, in a video message, lauded the preparation of the manual.

“We should learn from all of these, and I think we’ve been proactive to preempt potential hurdles, that is why we have the VVOC,” Dino said.

Mass vaccination during a pandemic where health protocols are needed to be observed, “is not as simple as we think,” he noted.

In the Visayas, over 120,000 people have been inoculated against Covid-19 and some of them have also received their second doses, Dino said.

Meanwhile, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia lauded OPAV for its efforts to ensure that Cebu and the rest of the Visayas could have its share of the vaccines.

She thanked the national government for the rollout of its vaccination program and ensured that Cebu is supportive of the undertaking.

“Because over here in Cebu, with minimum health protocols, with our push to boost immune system and with an effective, pro-active referral and hospital management program, now further boosted by Covid-19 vaccination program, Cebu is showing the rest of the country how to move on and how to move forward,” Garcia added.

The Cebu business community, meanwhile, also pledged strong support to the national vaccination program, saying that hospitals and establishments have offered their spaces as venues for mass inoculation.

Private companies have been asked to submit the names of their employees who belong to the priority sector as identified under the national prioritization framework of the government’s vaccination plan. (PNA)