By Pearl Gumapos
The OCTA Research Group believes that 90% of the COVID-19 vaccines should be allocated to Metro Manila in order to decrease the number of COVID-19 cases.
OCTA Research fellow Fr. Nicanor Austriaco O.P. said during a Kapihan sa Manila forum last Wednesday (May 19) that OCTA recommends allocating 90% of the country’s vaccine supply to NCR.
Austriaco said the fastest way to decrease the number of cases in the country is to prioritize and vaccinate NCR first.
“Simply by increasing the percentage of vaccines we send to the NCR, we will be able to shorten [or] to decrease the overall caseload of the pandemic. We recommend 90% to the NCR and 10% to the rest of the country to vaccinate our senior citizens who are most at risk for severe COVID-19,” he said.
Meanwhile, Austriaco also said that 9.66 million adults, or 70% of the estimated 13.8 million Filipinos in Metro Manila, should be vaccinated.
He added that to achieve herd immunity within two months, 300,000 doses a day must be administered.
“If 100,000 doses a day are administered, it would take six months. Three months if 200,000 doses are administered, and 1.5 months if 300,000 doses a day are administered,” he said.
To contain COVID-19 cases, 45% of 13.8 million or 6.21 million people must be vaccinated, he said. -jlo
