Vaccine mock pack arrives

The CNMI received a mock delivery of a COVID-19 vaccine last Saturday, Dec. 12, as part of preparations the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. is going through to receive and store the actual vaccines once they arrive.

Based on the latest projections, the COVID-19 vaccines are expected to arrive sometime before Christmas or right after Christmas.

According to CHCC’s chief executive officer, Esther Muña, the mock packaging or delivery was a package that came with pretend items and was intended to put CHCC’s receiving and storage process through their paces to ensure that there are no kinks when the actual vaccines arrive.

“[We’re practicing] in preparing for the real thing. These items are not what you normally order from Amazon. They are extremely sensitive. Timing and key logistics must be in place to get them from one point to another,” said Muña.

According to her, the shipment was meant to check how long the shipment took and if any issues occurred on its way here. It involved CHCC and other agencies on the COVID-19 Task Force. The mock shipment was sent here by Operation Warp Speed and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. See related story on Page 3

In a separate statement before the mock package arrived, Warren Villagomez, head of COVID-19 Task Force, said: “We were notified that a mock shipment is coming in. We are also exercising all the measures that we will be implementing upon arrival of the actual vaccine, because it is a high-level transport. There is security involved in [the] areas of payment and delivery,” said. Additionally, Villagomez disclosed that there will be a checklist that will be provided on what the vaccine stockpile will need to go through.

With the COVID-19 vaccine not being available to children just yet (16 years old and younger), Gov. Ralph DLG Torres stated that the most important thing to do in order to protect this population is to continue social distancing (waiting at a 6-foot distance), hand washing, and wearing a mask, and to continue to follow Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

“We also want to make sure that we safeguard our children, if we don’t have the vaccine specifically for them,” said Torres.

Muña stated that in order to further protect the younger population, CHCC will be campaigning in the next two weeks for children to be inoculated against influenza. “That’s one of the things that the kids can actually get it right now. So, we encourage everyone to check our website [to get the details of the outreach,” said Muña.

To learn more about the flu vaccine shot, you can visit vaccinatecnmi.com for more information.