Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, on Wednesday ordered all police offices and units to prepare to ensure the vaccination of the general population, including minors, will be done in an “orderly manner”.

This, after President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the recommendation of vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. to start inoculating the general population beginning October to ramp up the government’s fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

“Deployment of police units is to ensure that vaccinations will be done in proper and orderly manner,” he said in a statement.

Eleazar said they are also looking for more PNP personnel who have medical backgrounds and training who can assist in the government’s vaccination campaign.

He earlier committed the PNP’s Medical Reserve Force to assist in taking care of Covid-19 patients due to the shortage of medical facilities and health workers amid the high Covid-19 infections.

Eleazar also offered police camps and other facilities for the vaccination of the dependents of the PNP personnel, particularly those between 12 years old to 17 years old, to decongest the vaccination sites of the local government units.

He also directed police offices to coordinate with the local government units on the schedule of the vaccination of the general population.

Nearly 74% PNP personnel fully vaxxed

With the arrival of more vaccines, Eleazar is hoping the entire PNP roster will be fully vaccinated in the coming days.

This, as Eleazar announced that 73.98 percent of the police personnel are now fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

“The PNP has now fully vaccinated almost 74 percent of our total force against Covid-19,” he said in a statement Tuesday night.

He said the 73.98 percent fully vaccinated personnel translates to 164,787 individuals while the remaining 22.46 percent or 50,019 personnel have received their first doses.

“With these numbers, only 3.56 percent or 7,937 personnel are yet to receive the vaccines,” he said.

He added that Covid-19 vaccines are a big help to police officers manning the front lines as these allow them and their families to be protected against the killer disease.

Meanwhile, the PNP on Wednesday reported 202 new recoveries raising the number of personnel who recovered from Covid-19 to 37,460.

It also reported 240 new infections bringing the total number of infected personnel since last year to 39,707. Active cases were placed at 2,130 with fatalities remaining at 117. (PNA)