National Task Force Against Covid-19 deputy chief implementer Vivencio Dizon has emphasized the importance of monitoring the post-administration of Covid-19 vaccines as part of the bigger picture of Covid-19 vaccine trials.

Dizon said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum on Wednesday that the Department of Health (DOH) has included in the vaccination program the monitoring of individuals after the inoculation against the coronavirus.

However, the DOH has yet to disclose the full details on the monitoring part of the immunization program, Dizon added.

“All people that get vaccinated right now are part of the big trial for this Covid-19 vaccine, and monitoring is critical. We’ve already seen that there’s so much coming out on the internet about the adverse effect of the vaccine, those all have to be investigated,” he said.

Dizon, who is also the Covid-19 testing czar, said information is critical to the vaccination program “because we need to really put out the right information and we need to put out information in a very effective way.”

Dizon added that as the country will just start its immunization program, the government has to “learn quickly from the experiences of those countries that have already started their vaccination program”.

“We need to follow best practices in the world and that would include testing for antibodies,” he said.

But the most critical move of the government now, Dizon said, is to secure the vaccine supply and put in place the needed logistics and cold storage facilities as well as the deployment of the Covid-19 vaccine.

He added that the inoculation of 70 percent of the population is a “Herculean task”, the national government has to decentralize the administration of the vaccine.

“On the administration of the vaccine, this needs to be decentralized. We need to work with local government units, with companies because it’s a Herculean task to vaccinate 70 percent of the population this year,” Dizon said.

“And after the vaccination itself, we go into the monitoring of those who have vaccinated,” he said “But we have to prepare for that because it’s critical in the end-to-end vaccination program.” (PNA)