In an effort to assist local governments in rolling out their COVID-19 vaccination plans, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has offered the use of Catholic churches as vaccination centers.

“The bishops decided to offer, if needed, Church facilities to be vaccination centers…especially in difficult areas,”  CBCP president and Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles said at their bi-annual plenary assembly.

The top officials of the CBCP also expressed willingness to get vaccinated in public to boost people’s confidence in the vaccines. “Anything that can allay fears of the vaccine, we will offer in the church,” said CBCP vice president and Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David.

“If the Holy Father and Pope Emeritus had themselves vaccinated and in my estimation, it helps, if people would see me publicly vaccinated, why not?” Valle added. 

The national vaccination program will begin in February or early March, as soon as the first 50,000 doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine arrive in the country. Vaccines that have been granted emergency use authorization (EUA) by the Food and Drug Administration will be included in the COVID-19 immunization program. 

As of writing, Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca have been granted EUA.