With few takers, supply may go to waste: Lacson
BY RAYMOND AFRICA and JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR
SEN. Panfilo Lacson yesterday said the Department of Health (DOH) should intensify its information campaign to improve public trust in COVID-19 vaccines while waiting for the supply procured from manufacturers abroad to actually arrive in the country.
He said the vaccine supply may go to waste if only a few Filipinos will be willing to be inoculated.
Bulk of vaccines deliveries will start coming in in the third quarter, with about 10.4 million in June, 13.5 million in July, and 15 million to 20 million from August to December 2021.
The country’s current stock is about 4.04 million doses from Sinovac Biotech of China, AstraZeneca Plc via the COVAX Facility, and from Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute.
“What our officials including Health Secretary Francisco Duque III should do is to improve the public’s trust in vaccines, instead of just announcing when the vaccines will arrive,” Lacson said in an interview on dzRH radio. “Besides, if very few Filipinos are willing to be vaccinated, the vaccines that actually arrive may go to waste.”
Lacson also said that government is doing everything to bring in vaccines, it should focus more on prevention and cure than be “too engrossed” with the number of infections and deaths.
“Lagi natin tinitingnan araw-araw, binibilang natin ilan natamaan ng COVID, ilan namamatay. Hindi ba dapat forward-looking tayo? Kausapin natin ang mga kababayan natin, magkaroon tayo ng information campaign. Magtiwala kayo sa bakuna kasi sa ngayon wala tayong ibang makakapitan kundi ang bakuna (We keep on focusing on the number of infections and deaths every day. Should we not be forward-looking? We should convince the public via an information campaign to trust that the vaccines are our only hope against the pandemic for now),” he said.
The country is targeting to procure 148 million doses of vaccines to inoculate 50 million to 70 million Filipinos by the end of the year as parts of efforts to achieve herd immunity.
Secretary Carlito Galvez, vaccine czar and chief implementer of the National Task Force against the Coronavirus Disease (NTF COVID-19), on Friday said government is confident of achieving herd immunity “within this year, with the inoculation of 50 to 70 million Filipinos” despite recalibration of the vaccination plan because of supply constraints.
Herd immunity target date for Metro Manila and other highly-urbanized cities like Cebu remains set for November this year.
For the rest of the country, immunity may happen in the first or second quarter of next year as the government pours more vaccines to areas with high cases of COVID-19 cases first, Galvez said yesterday.
In an interview with radio dzRH, he said the main principle or policy should be equal distribution of vaccines to regions, and to achieve herd immunity or inoculate 70 percent of the adult population in the country by November.
But with limited vaccine supply, the government is focusing on addressing the COVID-19 situation in the areas with high number of infections such as the National Capital Region and nearby provinces and highly urbanized cities like Cebu and Davao.
Galvez said if the country gets a steady supply of at least 3.3 million doses of vaccines, herd immunity in Metro Manila and Cebu can be achieved by November.
Galvez also said the country has secured from Russia “10 million treatments or 20 million doses” which will be delivered to the country in tranches within a four-month period.
“Despite the shortage in global supply and the great demand for anti-COVID vaccines, the Russian government is committed to deliver vaccines for our country and help contain the ongoing surge in the national capital region,” he said.
The camp of Vice President Leni Robredo took the government to task for claiming that its COVID-19 response is a lot better than other countries including India, which is now the second-worst affected worldwide by COVID-19 infections.
“Kailangan lang na itigil natin iyong pagtingin sa mga bansa na mas malala ang sitwasyon (We have to stop comparing ours to countries where the situation is worse),” Robredo’s spokesman Ibarra Gutierrez said in Robredo’s weekly radio program on RMN. “Ang India isang bilyon ang populasyon no’n. Tayo 100 million lang. So walang comparison na puwedeng ibigay doon (India has a population of 1 billion, right? And we have only 100 millions so there’s no comparison there).”
Gutierrez said that to achieve better responses, the government should look at countries which have done well in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in the same way that a student looks up to classmates who got high scores.
“Sabihin mo nang 75 ang score mo – bakit mo ikukumpara iyong score mo doon sa ang nakuha 50? ‘Di ba gusto mong ikumpara iyong score mo doon sa mga mataas, 90 ganyan, para maengganyo kang galingan (Let’s say your score is 75, why compare it to those who got 50? Don’t you think you’d want to compare it to those who got higher score like 90 so you’ll strive harder?),” he said.
The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) last week said President Duterte has ordered government news agencies to “convey that we are faring better than other countries” in handling the COVID-19 crisis as the country’s cases breached the one million mark.
Senate minority leader Ralph Recto said the government should strengthen its healthcare system as the pandemic is not expected to end this year.
Recto said if the government has “build, build, build” projects for roads and other infrastructure, it should have the same for hospitals.
At the House of Representatives, Quezon City Rep. Precious Castelo said she has filed House Resolution No. 1733 urging the government to allow drive-in COVID-19 vaccination since this would make it easier for many people to get inoculated.
Castelo said she filed the measure since many do not have access to computers and internet connections to book appointments, especially elder people who are not tech-savvy.
“We all know it’s difficult to book online,” she told radio dzBB. “Hindi naman lahat may Wi-Fi at desktop so payagan na dapat ng gobyerno ang walk-in, drive-through at drive-in” (not all have Wi-Fi access and desktop computers so the government needs to allow walk-in or drive-through vaccination),” she said.
Castelo said she also filed the measure because opening schools as vaccination centers is not enough to fast-track the country’s mass immunization program which is aimed at achieving herd immunity. — With Wendell Vigilia
