By NG Seruela
The National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 said the Delta variant is the “main consideration” in declaring various community quarantine classifications in the country.
In a Laging Handa public briefing on Monday (June 28), NTF Spokesperson Restituto Padilla said the task force is currently discussing the quarantine restrictions to be declared in various areas and that they will be considering the threat of the Delta variant as the “main consideration.”
“’Yan ang main consideration ngayon, kaya hindi pa natin mapaluwag pa ang pagpasok ng mga dayuhan, returning OFs [overseas Filipinos], at OFWs [overseas Filipino workers],” he said.
In relation to this, Padilla said they are “very confident” that the target to vaccinate at least 80% of the Philippine population in 2021 will be achieved as the stable supply of COVID-19 vaccines enter the country.
“We’re very confident that with the entry of the stable supply of vaccines, we will be able to get that [target] for as long as that stable supply will be distributed equitably sa surge areas.”
Padilla also shared that the vaccine willingness of the Filipinos is continuously increasing. Due to this, the task force expects the daily average of vaccination jabs to soar as the private sector-procured vaccines enter the Philippines.
“Patuloy na umaangat na willingness ng ating mga kababayan na magpabakuna, at ine-expect nga namin na iyong bilang pa ng araw-araw na daily average ng ating vaccination jabs ay tataas sa pagpasok ng mga private sector-procured vaccines, kasi may sarili po silang rollout plan na hopefully at optimistically predicted, mado-double pa natin itong mga bilang na ito,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Philippines received 249,000 doses of Moderna and one million doses of Sinovac on Monday (June 28). Padilla explained that the Moderna vaccine will be distributed to areas that can handle the required temperature storage of the vaccine.
“Hindi po ito kasing sensitibo ng Pfizer, pero maaari pong mapunta ito sa mga lugar na napuntahan ng Pfizer,” he added.
He said that the Sinovac vaccines will be distributed to the priority areas. – jlo
