MANILA -- The U.S. Peace Corps recently concluded a seven-month partnership with the Department of Health and the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) ReachHealth project to vaccinate over 26,600 Filipino adults and children in clinics across Luzon and Visayas in time for the resumption of face-to-face classes this week. 

“The U.S. Peace Corps is proud to have worked alongside local health officials and USAID over the past several months to protect the Filipino people from COVID-19 and prepare for safe face-to-face classes this academic year,” Peace Corps Philippines Country Director Jenner Edelman said during a visit to a clinic in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija earlier this month. 

In the absence of American volunteers due to the pandemic, the U.S. Peace Corps medical staff administered vaccines, prescreened patients, and provided post-vaccination health education in various clinics and vaccination sites in the National Capital Region, Rizal, Cavite, Batangas, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, and Cebu.  The medical team also volunteered in house-to-house vaccination activities in several barangays, while non-medical staff assisted by encoding vaccination data.

American volunteers from the U.S. government’s premier volunteer organization will return to the Philippines in January 2023 to support COVID-19-related activities in their host communities, in addition to their primary service assignments. 

Since 1961, over 9,300 U.S. Peace Corps volunteers have served as co-teachers, youth development facilitators, environmental experts, or have filled other roles requested by host communities across the Philippines. (US Embassy in the Philippines-PIO)