By NG Seruela
National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 Chief Implementer and vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. on Thursday (Aug. 26) reported that more vaccines will be allocated to different provinces in the country.
In President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s Talk to the People, Galvez said the basis for equitable distribution of the vaccine is the number of unvaccinated population in various regions. He pointed out that Region 4-A and Region 3 are part of the regions to receive more vaccine supply.
“So kung titingnan po natin simula po ng September, 25 million po ang ating projected na makukuha at nakikita po natin na ang lalaki na po dito ‘yung Region IV-A at saka ‘yung Region III and other regions.”
He said that the National Capital Region (NCR) will then receive less than one million vaccine doses.
Galvez claimed that they are expecting roughly 114 million vaccine doses to arrive in the 4th quarter and some slippage in the 1st quarter of 2022. He mentioned that with the said arrival of vaccines, Region 4-A will be prioritized to receive more vaccines, followed by Region 3, Region 6, Region 7, Region 1, Region 12, Region 11, and Region 9.
“At nakikita po natin na mangunguna po dito ay talagang ‘yung IV-A kasi ito ang pinakamalaki pong population na hindi pa natin nava-vaccinate, followed by Region III, and then it will be followed by Regions VI and VII, and also nandito rin po ‘yung Region I, and also ‘yung Region XII and also ‘yung Region XI and Region IX.”
The vaccine czar reported further that based on the country’s vaccine tracker, the Philippines received 48 million doses in August and 42.092 million doses were already deployed. He added that the country has administered a total of 31 million vaccines as of Aug. 26 with 13.3 million doses as the second dose.
“Mayroon na po tayong 13.3 [million] na fully vaccinated which represents 17.33 percent of our 70 percent targeted population and also 12.13 [percent] for total populations po natin.”
Galvez asked for “some patience” for the allocation of vaccines since they have prioritized the surge areas or those areas with high numbers of COVID-19 cases.
“I would like to ask some patience because talagang inuna lang po natin ‘yung mga surge area at saka inuna po natin ang NCR dahil napakalaki po ng risk natin sa economic at saka tinatawag natin sa health risk considering ito po ‘yung mga epicenter.” – rir
