Press release 09 April 2021
CHED, ULAP, HEIs cooperate to set up additional COVID-19 vaccination centers
The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Union of the Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) are collaborating with seventeen (17) public and private higher education institutions (HEIs) to establish additional vaccination centers inside school properties as the country pushes for expanded immunization in the coming months.
In the recent joint CHED-ULAP zoom meeting, 17 HEIs offered their facilities to serve as vaccination sites of local government units:
Our Lady of Fatima University – Valenzuela Manila Central University University of Perpetual Help System Dalta – Las Piñas Campus De La Salle University – Dasmariñas St. Louis University Central Philippine University West Visayas State University OLFU- San Fernando, Pampanga University of Baguio Benguet State University University of Cebu University of Perpetual Help – Dr. Jose G. Tamayo Medical University OLFU-Quezon City De La Salle Medical and Health Sciences Institute Notre Dame Kidapawan College North Valley College Foundation Cotabato Medical Foundation
Responding to the call for a Whole of Nation Approach in the fight against the COVID-19 Pandemic, CHED and ULAP are partnering for “resiliency, rehabilitation, and national recovery” by jointly pursuing what they call “complementary and holistic strategies that would encourage collaboration” among LGUs and HEIs in their respective localities.
This was done through the signing of the Statement of Bayanihan by CHED Chairman J. Prospero E. De Vera III and Gov. Dakila Carlo E. Cua, ULAP National President recently.
De Vera said that more HEIs have signified their interest to be vaccination sites. Many of these HEIs have been approved to conduct limited face-to-face classes in their medical and allied health programs as approved by the President last January 2021.
“These HEIs have been inspected by the CHED, the local IATF and LGUs so we are sure that the proper health protocols, retrofitting of facilities, and the requirements for safety are already being implemented by these universities. These HEIs also have big facilities like gymnasiums that can be used for vaccination. They have the necessary health personnel who can assist in the vaccination drive,” De Vera said.
“There is an urgency to proceed with this initiative because as we move from A1 to A4 and then to B1, the number of people that we need to vaccinate are going to be bigger in number especially when we go to indigents and essential workers. Our existing vaccination centers under the local government should expand to cover these groups and HEI facilities can be tapped,” he added.
CHED, ULAP, LGUs, and HEIs are expected to tap and maximize resources that can now be used in the fight against the current pandemic. This is in recognition that the current centers and venues need to be expanded once the government’s vaccination roll-out is in full swing.
(SIGNED) J. PROSPERO E. DE VERA III, DPA Chairman Commission on Higher Education
