The Department of Health (DOH) has tapped a third-party logistics provider to fast-track the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines to provinces and cities in Eastern Visayas (Region 8).

DOH Eastern Visayas regional information officer Jelyn Lopez-Malibago said in a phone interview Wednesday their office and logistics firm Nonpareil International Freight & Cargo Services Inc. held a pilot delivery on Tuesday.

Through this system, the vaccines that arrived at the Tacloban Airport were no longer transported to the DOH regional office cold storage facility, but all pre-allocated vaccines were sorted for direct delivery to each recipient local government unit.

“This is a preemptive approach of the regional vaccine operations center as the region anticipates successive vaccine deliveries in the future and for efficient vaccine transportation,” Malibago said.

Delivered during the pilot phase are the 55,000 doses of Sinovac and 1,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines intended for different towns and cities in the region.

These vaccines arrived at the airport on the same day.

Of the 55,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines, 10,000 doses were allocated for Tacloban City, 5,000 doses for Ormoc City, and 10,000 doses each for Leyte, Northern Samar, Samar, and Southern Leyte provinces.

Meanwhile, the 1,500 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines were delivered to Ormoc City and the remaining 100 doses were transported to Leyte.

“We encourage everyone under the eligible priority groups to coordinate with their respective local governments for vaccine registration and to get vaccinated, when it’s their turn, for additional protection against hospitalization or severe form of Covid-19,” Malibago added.

As of Aug. 15, some 245,180 residents in Eastern Visayas have been fully vaccinated.

The number forms part of the 731,110 doses administered to health workers, senior citizens, those with comorbidities, and essential workers in six provinces and seven cities in the region. (PNA)