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Use Schools to Augment Vaccination Sites: Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto urges the Department of Health (DOH) to consider using schools as additional vaccination sites not only to speed up the process but also to prevent possible overcrowding around the designated vaccination spots. Recto made the suggestion after learning that the DOH, using 4,400 vaccination sites, is expected to finish inoculating 24.6 million individuals in 18 days. According to Recto, the DOH could use schools which are currently not being used. “So let me also point out, we are all doing these to save lives and livelihood so that we can open the economy,” Recto said during the Committee of the Whole hearing of the government’s Covid-19 vaccination plan Friday, January 15, 2021. Health Sec. Francisco Duque III agreed with Recto, admitting that the government would probably need more sites beyond what it had already identified and the schools can augment in this regard. He added that the vaccination process will be done in the context of a pandemic which means physical distancing and all minimum public health standards have to be considered. (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)