By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Philippine National Police (PNP) is preparing the police stations nationwide for the mass vaccination program scheduled for next year against COVID-19.

According to PNP Deputy Director for Operations, Police Major General Cesar Hawthorne Binag, the National Inter-Agency Task Force (NIATF) is already laying plans for the expected distribution of vaccines next year.

Binag also supports the calls for members of police to be included as among the first to be inoculated with the vaccines due to their roles as frontliners.

“Dahil frontliner kami inisip talaga ng gobyerno na unahin talaga ung frontliners,” he added.

He also revealed that the PNP now has its own molecular laboratories, two of which is at the PNP national headquarters in Camp Crame and in Cebu City.

According to Binag, both laboratories are available for PNP personnel and they are able to process over 450 specimens a day. Another molecular laboratory is also scheduled to be opened in Mindanao in the next few months.

Binag said early detection for COVID-19 infection is important in order to stop the spread of the virus.

He added that prior to traveling to Bacolod City, he and his staff had themselves undergone COVID-19 tests in order to follow national protocols.

“General Debold Sinas specifically wants mass testing kami,” he said./DGB, WDJ