THE Department of Health (DOH) on Monday, June 28, 2021, said it was investigating a breach in vaccination protocol that was captured on video.
The video clip, which was circulated on social media, showed a woman being inoculated. The vaccinator slid the needle into the woman's arm, but did not push the plunger, thus, failing to administer the vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (Cocid-19).
In a statement, the DOH said the vaccine recipient was successfully vaccinated after she showed the video to the vaccination team.
The DOH statement did not specify the vaccination site, but reports said the incident happened in one of the biggest cities in Metro Manila.
The investigation is being conducted with the concerned local government unit (LGU).
"The Department is investigating this breach in the vaccination protocol in coordination with the LGU concerned, and reminds all vaccinators to take extra care and attention during inoculation," DOH said.
DOH Secretary Francisco T. Duque III, in the same statement, assured that "this incident is being taken seriously and immediate improvements in the protocol shall be made to ensure" that chances of this happening again would be limited.
"Sinisigurado po namin na ating iimbestigahan ang pangyayaring ito upang mapabuti ang ating national vaccination program. Sa pagdating ng mas maraming bakuna sa bansa, we will continue to improve our speed, scale, and quality of service," Duque said.
As of June 27, over 10 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered to more than 7.5 million individuals nationwide.
More than 2.5 million, or 3.4 percent of the 74 million individuals eligible for the vaccine, have received two doses and are considered fully vaccinated.
The government is inoculating priority groups A1 (health workers), A2 (senior citizens), A3 (persons with comorbidities), A4 (workers who need to go out) and A5 (indigent population). (Marites Villamor-Ilano / VoxPop Philippines)