VACCINE czar Carlito Galvez Jr. yesterday said the “realistic” goal of the government is to achieve full vaccination of 50 percent to 60 percent of Filipinos in Metro Manila and at least 10 other areas in the country before Christmas.
Galvez said the government is working hard at achieving its targets but continued vaccine hesitancy among senior citizens and persons with comorbidities, and the delay in the deliveries of some of the vaccines, are affecting their ability to realize their goals.
In an interview with CNN Philippines, he said the government continues to target population protection in the NCR-Plus eight and Plus-10 highly urbanized cities. NCR-Plus eight refers to Metro Manila Metro Cebu, Metro Davao and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Batangas, and Pampanga while the Plus-10 highly urbanized cities are Bacolod City, Iloilo City, Cagayan de Oro City, Baguio City, Zamboanga City, Dumaguete City, Tuguegarao City, General Santos City, Naga City, and Legazpi City.
“Maybe NCR and other major cities will have a better Christmas this year,” he said, adding that 50 percent to 60 percent of the eligible population in these areas are expected to be fully vaccinated by December.
Galvez also said the government is looking to inoculate of the rest of the public, including children, by the end of October or November.
He could not say what brand would be used on the minors but said that Pfizer, which was recently granted a full approval by the US Food and Drug Administration, has been given an expanded emergency use authority by the Philippines’ FDA.
He said more than 45 percent of Metro Manila residents are now fully vaccinated.
The government initially planned to achieve population protection or full vaccination of 50 percent of the eligible population in the NCR-Plus eight by November and reach herd immunity or 70 percent of the targeted population by December.
Galvez said the government is now focusing the distribution of the vaccines outside Metro Manila, especially in areas that are most vulnerable or experiencing a surge in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases — Region III (Central Luzon), IV-A (Calabarazon), VI (Western Visayas), VII (Central Visayas), IX (Zamboanga Peninsula), X (Northern Mindanao), and XI (Davao region).
He said he expects the country to be able to fully vaccinate at least 20 million Filipinos by the end of the month. At present, 13.95 million are fully vaccinated or 18.1 percent of the targeted population.
Galvez reiterated that more vaccines are expected to arrive this month courtesy of manufacturing firms, and this would enable the government to vaccinate more people.
He said that in the past months, there have been delays in the delivery of the Sputnik V vaccine and other vaccines secured by the government through the COVAX facility. He said that of the 44 million vaccines from COVAX, only 13 million have been delivered.
As of September 1, the country has received a total of 52.60 million vaccine doses from various manufacturers, including 703,170 doses of government-procured Pfizer vaccines last Wednesday night. The country is set to receive 188,000 more doses late Thursday.
