Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Gregorio “Gringo” B. Honasan II lauded the response of LGUs to the DICT’s call for the submission of Line Lists to the Vaccine Information Management System (VIMS). In particular, Metro Manila chief executives, led by Metro Manila Council (MMC) Chairman Mayor Edwin Olivarez of Paranaque, have expressed their collective support for the VIMS by endeavoring to submit their respective Line Lists.
“Napag-usapan po namin yan sa MMC. In fact, yung aming mga IT (information technology) ay patuloy nagdo-download sa DICT para sa ating unified vaccination card. Tuloy-tuloy na ginagawa yan ng mga LGU dito sa Metro Manila,” Olivarez said.
“Itong August ang tinatarget natin. Within the month of August,” the Mayor said when asked about the target timeline of the LGUs.
Secretary Honasan continues to urge all LGUs to not only make sure that their respective Line Lists are submitted promptly, but to also ensure that their submissions to the VIMS contain accurate, complete and properly formatted data.
“Accuracy of data captured in the line list is of utmost importance; not only will it make the issuance of vaccination certificates efficient, it would also be useful for contact-tracing and monitoring of vaccinated individuals,” he explained.
Just two weeks after the World Health Organization (WHO) finalized the guidance and accompanying technical specifications for vaccination certificates on July 27, 2021, the portal and mobile app for issuing vaccination certificates to fully vaccinated citizens in the Philippines called the “VaxCertPH” is up and running, and ready to go live nationwide after training of LGU operators in a few weeks.
VaxCertPH is a portal and mobile app developed by the DICT for the Department of Health (DOH) for the issuance of digital vaccination certificates for vaccinated individuals in the country.
At present, the DICT continues to coordinate with LGUs to provide them with guidance in using the VIMS, particularly on how to properly fill out forms.
Efficient vaccination process through D-VAS
Meanwhile, various LGUs throughout the Philippines have expressed their appreciation for the DICT Vaccine Administration System (D-VAS) for improving the vaccine process in their respective Bakuna sites.
The D-VAS is part of the VIMS, which LGUs can use to automate capturing of vaccinees’ information and for more efficient and accurate submissions of data to the VIMS.
Minglanilla, Cebu Mayor Elanito A. Pena said the use of D-VAS has been instrumental in their municipality’s vaccination process as it made their system easier and more convenient.
“Because of this system, our data management team can upload the data within the day and avoid backlogs. We can serve our constituents now faster and efficiently,” he said.
Councilor Benito "Baste" Brizuela, Jr., Chairman on Health Committee and Vice Chair on ICT Committee of the City of Lucena in Quezon, also extended his thanks to the DICT for the Department’s assistance in the roll-out of D-VAS in the city.
"The DICT Vaccination Administration System has proven to be very efficient, fast, precise and over-all very helpful to the vaccination roll-outs. Imagine CHO of Lucena city needing to vaccinate 20,000+ residents with the 20k+ arrived vaccines recently, so they need to vaccinate average of 3,000 people at least a day. Because of D-VAS, we are able to reach this goal on a daily basis. More than that, the ease of monitoring and reporting is there. Really very operationally efficient,” Brizuela said.
“We express our gratitude to the DICT for providing this system to our city. With this, in due time we can surely achieve herd immunity with speed and efficiency," he explained.
Clarisa Delos Reyes, a nurse of Bato Rural Health Unit (RHU) in Catanduanes, added that with the use of D-VAS, printed forms have been significantly reduced as the data is directly uploaded online. The data can also be retrieved quickly and are not easily lost.
“Simple, mabilis at user-friendly ang D-VAS, kung kaya’t mabilis itong gamitin,” she said. [The D-VAS is simple, fast, and use-friendly. That is why it is easy to use.]
Likewise, Cherry Mae Andulan, Vaccine Site Manager of Socorro RHU in Oriental Mindoro, said the D-VAS minimized human error and shortened their vaccination process time.
“At the end of the day, naka-ready na na ise-send ang aming report dahil sa kanyang real-time encoding.”[At the end of the day, our report is already ready to send because of its real-time encoding.]
Meanwhile, Paulo Sena, an Information Technologist (IT) of the Rural Health Unit (RHU) of Bongabong in Oriental Mindoro, expressed his gratitude to the DICT for guiding them in the use of the system—from training until they went live.
“Malaking tulong po ito sa amin upang mapabilis ang pagpapabakuna. At naka-organize ang registration, ang screening, ang vital check, ang pagtuturok at kanilang monitoring,” he added. [This is a great help for us in speeding up our vaccination process. Registration, screening, vital check, inoculation, and monitoring are organized.]
Through the D-VAS, the whole vaccination process from registration to actual vaccination takes around 5 to 10 minutes only. As the whole process is paperless, data is managed properly.
“Using the DICT Vaccine Administration System or D-VAS, we were able to cut down the COVID-19 inoculation processing time by half, empowering the government to deliver this most important service to our citizens faster. Aside from this, with a simplified interface, we can also address the risk of inaccuracies in capturing the data,” Secretary Honasan explained.
LGUs who have yet to avail of the D-VAS are encouraged to get in touch with any of the DICT’s regional offices, the DOH, or the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
For more information, LGUs may contact the DICT’s DREAM Team at vims.dvas@dict.gov.ph or vims.support@dict.gov.ph.
Related Article: PH among early adopters of WHO vaccination certificate standards
Link: https://dict.gov.ph/ph-among- early-adopters-of-who- vaccination-certificate- standards/ (DICT)
