The national government can grant the requested four million COVID-19 doses of Metro Manila mayors for the National Capital Region (NCR) which has been placed under two-week enhanced community quarantine starting August 6.
This is after the country met its 16.4 million target delivered doses for July which provided the country an adequate stockpile of vaccines.
“Kakayanin naman based on the commitment of Secretary Charlie Galvez in our IATF [Inter-Agency Task Force] meeting yesterday, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said in an interview today (July 30).
“Mayroon pa tayong stockpile. So kakayanin ‘yan. Mayroon ding pinag-uusapan na 2.5 million for the NCR Plus, ‘yung Plus areas,” Duque added.
The Department of Health (DOH) assured that vaccines will be equitably distributed in areas outside NCR areas with reported case increase.
“‘Yung mga committed deliveries ng ating bakuna ay parating naman starting next week at mayroon naman tayong supplies na enough, para makapagbigay tayo ng ganitong kadami na bakuna sa NCR,” DOH USec. Maria Rosario Vergeire said in the July 30 DOH forum.
“Pero pag-uusapan pa rin with all of the officials because we need to also provide vaccines to the other areas of the country,” Vergeire added.
Supply
A total of one million CoronaVac doses procured by the government arrived in the country on July 30 morning at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.
Duque said 60% to 70% of the shipment will be allocated to the NCR.
The Philippines has received 19.5 million CoronaVac doses to date, while a total of 33,860,700 COVID-19 doses have been delivered to the country.
At least 16 million doses are expected next month, starting with the delivery of 450,000 AstraZeneca doses on August 2 and three million Moderna doses on August 3. – Report from Karen Villanda/AG-rir
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