DOH Receives Donation of Vax Carriers and Vax Cards from Latter-day Saint Charities

On April 12, 2022, the Latter-day Saint Charities, the humanitarian arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, formally turned over the donations of vaccine carriers and vaccination cards to the Department of Health in Region 7. It was composed of 4 thermal vaccination carriers that can carry about 2,000 doses of vaccines and 30,000 pieces of vaccination cards.

The purpose of these vaccination carriers is to keep the vaccines in a quality and viable state as they are transported to different areas and administered to the children.

The event took place at the Cebu City Stake Center located along Gorordo Avenue in Cebu City. Despite the heavy rains brought by Typhoon Agaton, the event became a success.

This year 2022, LDSC has partnered with DOH in support of the National Immunization Program (NIP). The goal of the program is to vaccinate 1.5 million children to increase the coverage rate of the fully immunized child.

The LDSC has made available P10M for the NIP and the DOH has chosen to allocate these funds primarily for the cold storage, vaccine transport boxes (75 sets), and vaccination cards (670,000). This program is available in all the 17 regions in the Philippines.

The donations were handed to Dr. Jonathan Neil Erasmo, Chief of the Local Health Support Division of DOH Region 7 by Dennis Dan Nuñez, President of the Cebu Philippines Stake.

Accompanying President Nunez were Arnold Gorgonio, President of Cebu Central Stake; Raben Redulla, President of Talisay Stake; and Roy Baculio, President of Mandaue Stake. Also, assisting Dr. Erasmo from the DOH were Dr. Jeanette Pauline Cortes – Head of the Family Health Section; Mr. Ruff Vincent Valdevieso – Child Care Nurse Coordinator; Mr. Arnulfo Lavares – Coldchain Manager; and Mr. Genard Ching – Medical Technology Dengue Coordinator.

“Good health for the children of the world is a priority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”, said Caroline Abanggan, Manager of the Welfare and Self Reliance Services of the Church in the Visayas Region.

The rate of vaccinations in Central Visayas has dropped drastically. The goal of LDSC, in partnership with the Department of Health, is to resolve this concern.

“Our collaboration confirmed the love of Jesus for the children. We’re very happy that the Church is geared towards uplifting the spirit of our people. We are humbled by your actions and your love to immunize children. It cascades the love of Jesus Christ for equality.” said Dr. Erasmo.

Elder Huskinson, LDSC Humanitarian Missionary said, “Children are the most important resource that there is in the Philippines because they are the future of the country.”