THE GOVERNMENT may soon start the registration of medical students to be tapped as vaccinators against Covid19, according to the National Task Force Against Covid19.

NTF special adviser Dr. Teodoro Herbosa said getting more vaccinators is key to a faster vaccination rollout.

“I think with the volume of vaccines arriving, we should be able to catch up by next week. The key really is getting more vaccinators to volunteer,” Herbosa said.

“Alam ko pretty soon ‘yan kasi even before this agreement the medical students are already undergoing training, they joined some of our vaccination training, we are just waiting for final approval,” he added.

The NTF official said that the National Vaccination Operations Center held talks with medical and nursing schools. The Commission on Higher Education has allowed senior medical and nursing students to volunteer in different vaccination sites.

“And then we discovered that in a crisis the Department of Health can deputize our medical students so there’s a legal basis to actually use medical students even if they’re not yet licensed for medicine,” Herbosa said.

Volunteers may be given honoraria and transport allowance.