Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Monday (May 17) that the country has already administered three million vaccines under the government’s national vaccination program.
“We are congratulating the National Vaccination Operations Center saka ang DOH [Department of Health], we have already breached the three-million mark,” Galvez said in an interview at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH).
“Dati ang one million is almost 40 days nating ginawa noong March. Sa ngayon, at least 5 days,” he added.
Galvez said they are targeting to increase the number of administered doses in the coming months as millions of vaccines from various pharmaceutical companies arrive.
“We are looking forward na by June, aangat po tayo ng one million per week,” he said, noting that the country has already reached 120,000 administered vaccines per day.
The official is also confident of reaching 500,000 administered vaccines in a day if around 5,000 vaccination centers have been activated. He said the peak season for inoculation will be in July and August.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in his briefing today that all areas will be covered by the vaccination program, but the prioritization will initially focus on COVID-19 hotspots.
These are Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Pampanga, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao.
Meanwhile, all governors and mayors are now included under priority group A1.5 regardless of their areas’ risk classification.
“Sila po ang nagpapatupad ng localized lockdown. Sila po ang nagpapatupad ng vaccination. Sila po talaga ang ating instrumento dito sa paglaban natin sa COVID-19. They may not be doctors, but they are equally frontliners,” Roque said. – Report from Mela Lesmoras/AG-jlo
Watch this interview with several officials at the PGH:
