GOVERNMENT expects a drop in COVID-19 cases in October or November when more people, especially in highly-urbanized areas, would have been vaccinated, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said yesterday.
The national vaccination program started on March 1. The government targets to procure 148 million doses and inoculate 50 million to 70 million Filipinos by the end of the year.
The country has so far received 2.525 million doses of vaccines — 1.525 million doses obtained via donation from the Chinese government and the COVAX Facility and 1 million doses bought from the Chinese firm Sinovac. The supply includes of 500,000 doses from Sinovac that arrived yesterday.
At least 1.612 million Filipinos have been vaccinated as of April 21, composed of health workers (A1 category in the vaccine priority list), senior citizens (A2) and those with comorbidities (A3) have been vaccinated, with 1.397 million receiving the first dose and 214,776 completing two doses.
The government aims to start the vaccination for essential workers (A4 category) between May and June.
“Once nabakunahan natin majority ng mga affected na tinatawag nating highly urbanized cities like in Metro Manila, kapag nakuha natin iyan nakikita natin na siguro, by October or November, makikita natin iyong epekto niya talaga, na talagang bababa talaga iyong kaso (Once we’ve vaccinated majority of those affected in the highly-urbanized cities in like Metro Manila, if we get that, we will see the impact, maybe by October or November, we will see a drop in cases),” Galvez, also chief implementer of the National Task Force against COVID-19, said.
Galvez said the Philippines ranks 42nd among 188 countries in the world, 15th of 47 countries in Asia, and fourth of 10 in Southeast Asia in terms of the number of persons vaccinated.
100K DOSES FOR NCR
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said that to contain the spread of COVID-19 especially its variants, the government targets to prioritize the vaccination of those living in areas with high numbers of infections, like the National Capital Region (Metro Manila) and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, collectively called the “NCR Plus.”
Roque said that based on the experience of Israel and the United Kingdom, cases decreased after majority of their people were vaccinated.
Galvez said 100,000 doses of the 500,000 doses delivery yesterday will be allocated to Metro Manila while the rest will be distributed through the country.
Galvez said the country is also expecting 15,000 doses of Sputnik V from Gamaleya on April 25 and another 480,000 doses on April 29, as well 195,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines by the end of April.
He said an unknown amount from AstraZeneca under the World Health Organization backed-COVAX Facility may also be delivered this month.
The country expects the delivery of at least 4.1 million doses of procured vaccine in May and 7.5 million doses of procured vaccine in June.
Galvez said while there is a global supply shortage, the Philippines has secured commitments from seven pharmaceutical companies, unlike some other countries that secured supply from up to only three firms.
The Food and Drug Administration said the US-based pharmaceutical firm Moderna Inc. has yet to submit an application for emergency use authorization (EUA).
“We are still waiting for Moderna to apply. Hopefully, they will apply soon,” said FDA Director General Eric Domingo.
Last Tuesday, Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said the Philippines is set to receive by middle of June the first 200,000 doses of 20 million doses it procured from Moderna.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said an EUA is necessary if the Moderna COVID vaccine is to be imported and used in the country.
“As long as a product has no EUA, it cannot be used to vaccinate our people,” she said.
The FDA already issued EUAs to Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Gamaleya – Sputnik V, Sinovac’s CoronaVac, Janssen/Johnson & Johnson, and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. — With Gerard Naval
