Getting the vaccine for foreigners in the Philippines being looked at.

[hk blues]

16 hours ago, jimeve said:

My mate got his  for free. Morong.

We are in the registration stage in Iloilo - the communication doesn't say anything about foreigners, simply proof of address.  We're going next week so I'll see what happens.

[OnMyWay]

For our vets!

VA MANILA OUTPATIENT CLINIC

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS

 

April 16, 2021

 

1.    COVID-19 VACCINATIONS UPDATES:

 

I am pleased to share with the Veteran community in the Philippines that VA Manila has been allocated its initial supply of COVID-19 vaccine.  This has been a tremendous undertaking and required the collaboration of multiple Federal agencies. I appreciate the teamwork among these agencies that has gotten us to this point.  VA Manila staff are ready to rise to the challenge to safely vaccinate as many Veterans as quickly as possible. I am also very grateful for the patience and understanding from the Veteran community in the Philippines as we have worked through the many hurdles involved with the shipping and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to VA’s most distant health care facility in a foreign country.

 

VA Manila has initially been allocated the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. This vaccine has been granted Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for use both in the United States and the Philippines. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is a two-dose series, consisting of an initial vaccine, and a second booster shot 21 days later. Veterans are encouraged to review the Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Information Sheet and to consider the risks and benefits of being vaccinated. Veterans should ask their provider about any questions or concerns you may have about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine prior to scheduling, or prior to vaccine administration.

 

VA Manila will begin providing vaccines to Veterans on Monday, April 19, 2021. Vaccinations will be administered at the VA Manila Outpatient Clinic, 1501 Roxas Boulevard, 1302, Pasay City, Metro Manila, and will be offered by appointment only. VA Manila will not be able to accommodate Veterans seeking a vaccine on a walk-in basis, as the Clinic remains closed to walk-in appointments at this time. When a Veteran is eligible to receive a COVID vaccine, a VA Manila staff member will contact the Veteran by phone and secure messenger to offer an appointment in our dedicated COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic. Based on available vaccine supplies, VA Manila will offer the COVID-19 vaccine to our enrolled Veteran patients. Due to the overwhelming demand that is anticipated, I am asking Veterans not to call the Clinic to inquire when they can receive a vaccine. Initially, our supplies will be limited, and the Clinic will be working through a prioritized list to offer the vaccine first to those at highest risk of getting or spreading the coronavirus, or of becoming severely ill from COVID-19. The Clinic will put out frequent email updates keeping the Veteran community up-to-date on developments throughout this process.

 

VA Manila’s clinic scheduling team has already started contacting Veterans based on established prioritization groups. These groups were previously published by the Department of Veterans Affairs in November 2020. The Clinic will strictly adhere to the priority groups initially and will start with Phase 1a and Phase 1b, which includes the following individuals:

Phase 1a includes these eligible Veterans who already receive care at VA:

Veterans who live in VA community living centers and spinal cord units
Veterans who live in other long-term care or congregate (group living) settings and don't have access to COVID-19 vaccines in those settings
Veterans who work in cemeteries
Veterans who work as health care personnel
Phase 1b includes these eligible Veterans who already receive care at VA:

Veterans who are at least 75 years old 
Veterans who are essential frontline workers
Veterans who are experiencing homelessness 
Veterans who receive hemodialysis care 
Veterans who've had a solid organ transplant or who are being considered for transplant
Veterans with spinal cord injuries and disorders 
Veterans who receive chemotherapy treatment in a clinic or hospital
 

Following the initial prioritization groups 1a and 1b, Veterans in priority group 1c will be accommodated:

Phase 1c includes these eligible Veterans who already receive care at VA:

§  Veterans who are ages 65 to 74

§  Veterans who are younger than 65 years old and have certain health conditions that the CDC determines put them at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19 

§  Veterans who the CDC considers essential workers not included in Phase 1b

Go to the CDC website to read about health problems that increase risk from COVID-19

Go to the CDC website to read the full list of essential workers
 

Once VA Manila has been able to offer COVID-19 vaccines to enrolled Veterans in Phases 1a, 1b, and 1c, the Clinic will offer a COVID-19 vaccine to all Veterans enrolled in VA health care in the Philippines. Finally, once that group has been offered their initial vaccines, VA Manila will then offer any remaining supplies of COVID-19 vaccine to other non-enrolled Veterans and other individuals, as supplies permit and as authorized by the SAVE LIVES Act (Public Law 117-4). This law requires VA to continue to prioritize enrolled Veterans in the absence of a readily available supply of vaccine.

When will I be contacted for my vaccine appointment?

VA Manila’s initial COVID-19 vaccine allocation is not sufficient to vaccinate all enrolled Veterans at the Clinic, in addition to the non-enrolled Veterans and spouses/caregivers of Veterans living in the Philippines. These groups of individuals were recently authorized to receive vaccine from VA by the SAVE LIVES Act (PL 117-4). At this time, only enrolled Veterans who are active patients at the VA Manila Outpatient Clinic and over the age of 75 will be contacted. It is unlikely that VA Manila will be able to accommodate Veterans younger than 75 with our initial allocation. As additional supplies of vaccine are allocated to VA Manila and shipped, the Clinic will work to vaccinate other Veterans based on the priority groups outlined above. However, it may be several weeks or even several months before the Clinic receives a second allocation and shipment of vaccine.

Veterans, spouses, and caregivers in lower priority groups who may have an opportunity to receive a vaccine from their Local Government Units or Departments of Health in the Philippines are encouraged to consider receiving their COVID-19 vaccine from these sources. Veterans who will be returning to the United States in the near future may also choose to receive a vaccine from VA or community provider while stateside. Regardless of the source, the best COVID-19 vaccine you can receive is the one that you can get in your arm.

How to stay up to date on COVID-19 Vaccines.

To get timely COVID-19 vaccine updates in English and Tagalog, please visit:  www.va.gov/health-care/covid-19-vaccine. Please note at this time, the Keep Me Informed Tool, also known as the “sign up” feature, is not compatible with Philippine Postal Codes. This tool only works with U.S. zip codes. VA Manila is developing our own local resource to allow Veterans, spouses, and caregivers to alert VA Manila that you are interested in receiving a COVID-19 vaccine from OPC. In the meantime, please do not use the ‘sign up’ tool, as this information likely will not reach VA Manila.  We intend to share information about how you can let VA Manila know you’d like a vaccine in the next few days.  Also, look out for regular email updates about Manila OPC’s unique vaccine rollout process. 

As always, if you need any assistance, please email your primary care team in MyHealtheVet, or you are welcome to contact me directly: daniel.gutkoski2@va.gov.

 

Please continue to stay healthy and safe and continue vigilantly practicing the best strategies to prevent and spread COVID-19 infections – Washing your hands, Watching your distance from other people, and Wearing a mask.

 

Your VA Manila Team

 

Attachments (2)

VA Manila COVID Vaccine Information Fact Sheet

US FDA Vaccine Information Sheet – Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine

 

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Daniel Gutkoski, MHA

Clinic Manager, VA Manila Outpatient Clinic

US Embassy to the Philippines, Seafront Compound

1501 Roxas Boulevard

1302 Pasay City, Metro Manila

Direct: +63 (02) 8396-3735    Toll Free: #MyVA (#6982)

[Freebie]

As an update, I saw a report that a lady in Quezon city had a 9.5 hour wait from arriving for vaccine to departing. It got some press needless to say.

In my experience yesterday in my Makati barangay it was smooth as silk... from the arriving and name checking to registration ( more form filling ), taking vitals, actual vaccinating, checking vitals again, providing contact details in case of adverse reaction, it was an excellent 20 minute experience. All staff were courteous polite and professional. They should be contacting me in one month for the second dose.

Curiously after taking the vaccine they took vitals then I guess they wanted to check Im ok so asked me spell my middle name. (( This country has a curious fascination with middle names... my BPI trade account uses my letters from middle name and parts of my  birthdate as a prefixed mandatory password.. what if you dont have a middle name ??)

[hk blues]

2 hours ago, Freebie said:

As an update, I saw a report that a lady in Quezon city had a 9.5 hour wait from arriving for vaccine to departing. It got some press needless to say.

In my experience yesterday in my Makati barangay it was smooth as silk... from the arriving and name checking to registration ( more form filling ), taking vitals, actual vaccinating, checking vitals again, providing contact details in case of adverse reaction, it was an excellent 20 minute experience. All staff were courteous polite and professional. They should be contacting me in one month for the second dose.

Curiously after taking the vaccine they took vitals then I guess they wanted to check Im ok so asked me spell my middle name. (( This country has a curious fascination with middle names... my BPI trade account uses my letters from middle name and parts of my  birthdate as a prefixed mandatory password.. what if you dont have a middle name ??)

As as I understand it here, everyone has a middle name based on their mother's maiden name which then changes to their own if and when they marry.  

[Jack Peterson]

5 minutes ago, hk blues said:

As as I understand it here, everyone has a middle name based on their mother's maiden name which then changes to their own if and when they marry.  

 It is most unfortunate ( as I understand it) but illegitimate children do not have a Middle name, just a Given name then The Mothers Family name

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, Jack Peterson said:

 It is most unfortunate ( as I understand it) but illegitimate children do not have a Middle name, just a Given name then The Mothers Family name

That does seem unnecessarily cruel, Jack.  That does answer a question I had in my mind when we registered our son's birth in Hong Kong at the Philippines Consulate there - my now-wife and I were not married when our son was born.  The consulate gave us a form which basically allowed him to follows the standard naming format here.  It became incidental as we registered my son's birth in Hong Kong using the Philippine's format anyway so that was automatically used for his Filipino passport. 

[OnMyWay]

8 hours ago, Jack Peterson said:

 It is most unfortunate ( as I understand it) but illegitimate children do not have a Middle name, just a Given name then The Mothers Family name

Nothing to do with legitimacy.  Just tradition.  My first daughter (illegitimate) and second daughter (legitimate) both have the same middle name, my wife's maiden name.  In her family, all nine brother's and sisters had the same middle name, her mother's maiden name.  My wife is from Bohol but I think that is standard tradition.

When the kids were born, my wife said that is the way they do it here, so I just went along.

[Dave Hounddriver]

1 hour ago, OnMyWay said:

My first daughter (illegitimate) and second daughter (legitimate) both have the same middle name, my wife's maiden name.

I think illegitimacy is not the correct word.  It is when the mother is unmarried and there is no father listed on the birth certificate that there is no middle name.  So a child in that case would use the mother's last name and a first name only.  To avoid the appearance of "fatherlessness", some mothers give the child 2 "first" names.  In the case of my Lyn's son, the child has a first name of "Lionelle Jose" and then his mother's last name.  He has NO middle name but sure causes a lot of confusion with that system after moving to Canada.

Hope that cleared it up for ya.

[hk blues]

13 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Nothing to do with legitimacy.  Just tradition.  My first daughter (illegitimate) and second daughter (legitimate) both have the same middle name, my wife's maiden name.  In her family, all nine brother's and sisters had the same middle name, her mother's maiden name.  My wife is from Bohol but I think that is standard tradition.

When the kids were born, my wife said that is the way they do it here, so I just went along.

Same with my son - wife's maiden name and my family name even illegitimate was how we named him on his Hong Kong birth certificate and birth report to Philippines Consulate there. All her family the same (until marriage) when they swap mother's maiden name for family name and take husband's family name. I assumed this was a national practice but may be wrong.

[Dave Hounddriver]

26 minutes ago, hk blues said:

I assumed this was a national practice but may be wrong.

Or you could look it up

https://pcw.gov.ph/republic-act-386-the-civil-code-of-the-philippines/