BY JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR and VICTOR REYES
GOVERNMENT is giving bulk of COVID-19 vaccines to 1,500 barangays that have the highest number of infections or are most vulnerable to infection, the National Task Force against COVID-19 chief said late Wednesday.
Yesterday, the country yesterday received a million doses of vaccines made by China’s Sinovac Biotech. It is the second delivery this month. Some 3.5 million more doses more are expected this month.
A shipment of about 2.3 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, sent by the COVAX Facility, was expected Thursday night and 100,000 doses from Russia’s Gamaleya on June 11.
Meanwhile, Bohol Gov. Arthur Yap urged the national government to prioritize the vaccination of some 70,000 residents of Panglao Island in Bohol, to sustain tourism which is the backbone of the province’s economy.
Yap, in a radio interview, said yearly tourist arrivals in the province was 1.5 million prior to the COVID-19 pandemic but now, it is not even 10 percent of the 1.5 million.
Panglao Island is the main tourist attraction in Bohol. Yap said majority of resorts and hotels in Bohol are located in Panglao Island. Several tourist attractions are also in Panglao Island, including the Chocolate Hills and Loboc river.
Yap’s call came amid complaints from local government units about inadequate vaccine supply, specifically for those belonging to the A4 priority group (economic and government frontliners), whose vaccination started on June 7.
NTF chiwf and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., at the kick-off the A4 vaccination in San Juan on Wednesday, said President Duterte ordered that areas with a spike in COVID-19 cases should be prioritized in vaccine supply to increase their vaccine administration capacity.
In a statement he said, 1,500 barangays across the country were identified as the “center of gravity” of the COVID-19 pandemic based on the data of the Department of Health.
”Areas which have been identified as the most vulnerable to COVID-19 surges will also be given priority by the government in the vaccine deployment,” he added.
He did not say what the barangays are or where they are located, and how much more vaccine would be allocated to these areas.
Galvez previously said that part of the one million doses of Sinovac vaccines that arrived on June 6 had been sent to areas with high number cases, including those under the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) in the Visayas and Mindanao.
The government has also been allocating half of the vaccines in the National Capital Region Plus 8 (NRC+8) due to the high number of cases in these areas and their being the centers of economy in the country.
NCR+8 includes Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Pampanga, Batangas, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao.
The government aims to inoculate 50 million to 70 million people by the end of the year.
PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar yesterday said he will take the first COVID-19 vaccine shot together with members of his Command Group when the vaccination rollout for cops under the A4 category starts in the PNP.
This, he said, is meant to even boost vaccine confidence among policemen, noting a survey he conducted in February showed only 51 percent of policemen were willing to be vaccinated. — With Raymond Africa
