In support of the National Government’s plan to vaccinate all of the country’s healthcare workers by the end of April, all 18 hospitals of Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc. (MPHHI) have mobilized to vaccinate as many of its frontliners in the shortest possible time. As of March 23, 2021, MPHHI hospitals have vaccinated nearly 80% of their hospital workers with the first of two doses of either Sinovac or AstraZeneca. This is equivalent to 20,492 out of their 25,717 health care workers.
Some of the larger NCR hospitals in the network, namely Makati Medical Center, Asian Hospital and Medical Center, and Manila Doctors Hospital, have reached worker vaccination rates of 91%, 98%, and 89%, respectively. Likewise, the other hospitals in the network have undertaken equally aggressive vaccination programs as supplies have become available.
“The rollout of safe and efficient vaccines is critical to the welfare of our people, as well as to the revival of our economy,” says Manuel V. Pangilinan, Chairman of MPHHI.
“As more vaccines come in over the next few months, the challenge will shift to getting them injected in as many arms as possible,” he adds. “Our hospitals are perfecting this process as we speak, and I think we’ll be in a position to offer even greater help to the government and to the wider community very soon.”
Augusto Palisoc Jr., President and CEO of MPHHI, underscores the protection and relief this has provided to healthcare workers. “Our hospital workers have been bravely caring for our patients for an entire year, amidst the global pandemic” says Palisoc. “We really wanted to make these vaccines available to them as soon as possible, especially now that we are experiencing a much bigger surge in cases. The vaccines give our people an additional layer of security, and perhaps helps their families rest a little easier. This also makes our hospitals safer for all our patients and their families.”
Pangilinan, through Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) and its logistics arm MetroPac Movers Inc., also initiated the storage of the initial 487,000 vials of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines and the 600,000 doses of the CoronaVac vaccine from the Beijing-based biopharmaceutical company Sinovac.
Pangilinan is among the country’s top business leaders to support the national government in providing an additional two million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines for frontliners. The vaccine is developed by the Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
“It is our privilege to assist the government in bringing the vaccines to Filipinos, particularly to medical frontliners. As the Philippines continues to move towards economic revival, it is in everybody’s best interest to protect as many Filipinos as possible from the virus. This additional batch of vaccines, this time from Oxford-AstraZeneca, is a great start,” Pangilinan said.
