‘Some 14 months into this pandemic, can someone tell us what the target is?’
I AM confused. Over the last three months (March, April and May) I’ve seen presentations made by the so-called vaccine czar, retired Gen. Carlito Galvez, highlighting the country’s vaccine rollout program.
His presentations — and his targets — change by the month. So do his measures of success.
Last March, he reported that April deliveries of vaccines would total 5.5M doses: 3M of Gamaleya/Sputnik: 1 M of Covax and between 1.5M to 2M of China’s Sinovac, the brand the government seems to prefer to give to the people but which the President did not want to take.
He also reported that expected deliveries of vaccines for May would be 8.9M doses: 11.5M for June: 13.5M for July; and then 20M every month for August to December, allowing us to cover more than 70 million Filipinos and achieve herd immunity by Christmas. And he also said that we would get there because our target vaccinations for April to May would be from 500,000-1M a week; for June to July it would be 1-2M vaccinations a week; and onwards.
In a presentation made earlier this month these were the numbers: 3.7M doses had been delivered for the month (1.5M of Sinovac, 20,000 of Sputnik, 2M of Covax (AZ) and 193k of Covax (Pfizer). Expected May 20 (that’s yesterday) was 500K of Sinovac, and an additional 2.2M of Pfizer, 1.3M of Sputnik, for a whole May total of 7.7M doses.
This number, 7.7M doses, is a little less than the 8.9M earlier reported as the target for May. If we are falling short in May, I expect we fell short in April as well.
We are also falling short of weekly vaccine targets. By this time we should have vaccinated a low of about 4 million to a high of about 8 million Filipinos based on the reported target last March that by April-May we would be vaccinating a low of 500,000 to a high of 1 million per week. But what’s the score? A group tracking the vaccine rollout puts the average daily number at 60-70,000. Using the high point that’s 490,000 a week, again short of the low weekly target of 500,000 vaccinated weekly.
And that’s why we have one of the lowest numbers in terms of percentage of population vaccinated. Despite claims by the DOH that we have one of the highest numbers of vaccine doses administered.
Most confusing is the target: in the United States, Joe Biden was clear: he wanted 100 million Americans vaccinated by the end of his first 100 days. Now I want to be fair: Joe Biden could say that because America was a major producer — and hoarder — of vaccines, and poor countries like the Philippines whose leader has many times mocked America could only beg for extras. Or ask from China and Russia, which is what we have been doing.
Actually, Europe is another potential source. But remember the EU? How often has the President mocked the EU or at least some of its agencies? No sympathetic ears there I suppose.
So yes, supply is a real problem for the Philippines compounded by our undiplomatic actuations towards those who now could provide some much needed doses. Thank God China is there and Russia as well. And that’s why we welcome China’s Sinovac for our general population — even if it apparently is not good enough for Malacanang.
I digress but we must salute Secretary Galvez for taking a shot that his boss wouldn’t.
(What shot has Secretary Duque taken, I wonder? I’d love to be the one to jab him!)
And that in part explains why it is difficult to make heads or tails of what the target is: “herd containment” covering 25 million Filipinos? Who are they? Those in urban centers? By when? And how do we keep them “safe” from the others? Do we as some joke “erect a wall” to keep the non-vaccinated and potentially infected away from the urban area?
Or is the target “herd immunity” of 50-70 million? Who? By when? Oh and no, 50 million won’t do the trick apparently. Let’s not lower the bar to cover our shortcomings while risking the lives of our people.
Some 14 months into this pandemic, can someone tell us what the target is?
