THE onslaught of typhoon “Odette” last month and preparations for the May elections are among factors that contributed to “slow” vaccination efforts against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr.
Galvez, chief implementer of the National Task Force against COVID-19, noted that rehabilitation efforts for at least six regions hit by Odette are ongoing, while the upcoming national and local elections are “diverting the attention of some of our local chief executives from the efficient implementation of their vaccination drive.”
“It is our hope that our local leaders will have the will to temporarily set aside their personal interests and first ensure the health and protection of their constituents, especially now that the country is experiencing another major surge,” he said.
Galvez made the statements on Saturday following a World Bank report that said the Philippines’ vaccination implementation continues to lag behind its regional neighbors.
The World Bank report that came out last week also said “the slower vaccination, and higher mobility during the holiday season, are the likely causes why the Philippines is one of the first to experience an Omicron variant surge in the region, recording higher cases per capita than other Asean countries, as of January 11.”
Galvez said the Philippine government has always been committed and continues to vaccinate all qualified Filipinos despite the many challenges that comes its way, such as the need to scale up vaccination capacities of local government units, increase vaccine acceptance among Filipinos, and limited vaccine supplies at the start of the inoculation program in March 2021.
He said “several external factors” continue to limit the government’s ability to fully implement its inoculation program and eventually slowed down its vaccination efforts, like typhoon Odette which devastated at least six regions in the Visayas and Mindanao.
He said Odette’s effects are still being felt, and relief and rehabilitation efforts are ongoing.
“The typhoon struck six regions in the country, all of which were starting to ramp up their vaccination throughput. However, LGUs (local government units) were forced to temporarily suspend their vaccination rollout in order to respond to the immediate needs of their constituents such as food, medicine, and shelters,” he said.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development-Disaster Response Operations Monitoring and Information Center (DSWD-DROMIC) said that as of January 22, about 26,960 families or 103,640 persons remain in 872 evacuation centers in Regions IV-B (Mimaropa), VI (Western Visayas), VII (Central Visayas), VIII (Eastern Visayas), X (Northern Mindanao), and the XIII (Caraga) while 16,280 families or 58,355 persons are staying with relatives or friends in Regions VI, VII, VIII and Caraga.
About P841.5 million worth of assistance has been provided to the affected families, including P623.19 million from DSWD and P192.04 million from LGUs.
The National Vaccine Operations Center (NVOC) said that as of January 22, more than 123.099 million doses of vaccines have been administered nationwide, while 59.75 million individuals have received their first jab, 57.19 million are now fully vaccinated, and 6.155 million received their booster shots.
Metro Manila administered the most vaccines with 20.91 million followed by Region IV-A (Calabarzon) with 15.799 million, Region III (Central Luzon) with 12.58 million, while lagging in behind are Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) had the least vaccines administered with 1.3 million and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) with 1.84 million.
OTHER CHALLENGES
Galvez said other challenges to the vaccination efforts are lingering threats from communist terrorist groups and country’s geographical landscape. He said the country, being an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, also affects the vaccine drive.
He said despite such challenges, the country was still able to achieve milestones such as fully vaccinating 54 million individuals in January, late by a few weeks from the target of December 2021, to achieve population protection.
The government targets to fully vaccinate 77 million people by the end of March 2022 and 90 million by the end of June 2022.
The country has received at least 213.68 million doses of vaccines since February last year.
On the World Bank’s observation that increase in mobility during the holiday season may have contributed to the surge in cases especially in Metro Manila (National Capital Region), Galvez said “while this may be true to a certain extent, surely the World Bank understands the need to create a balance between protecting the people’s health and breathing life into the nation’s economy,”
“The country’s business sector could no longer be held hostage by the health crisis, and therefore the need to further open up the economy, while putting in place all the necessary health and safety precautions,” he said.
Galvez said the country has already learned its lessons from previous surges such as the one caused by the Delta variant and had prepared more to better face future surges.
He said the country’s healthcare system for instance is now more prepared and better equipped to respond to such surges.
To regulate the movement of people and operation of businesses, Alert Level 4 has also been imposed in Kalinga, Ifugao, Mountain Province, and Northern Samar until January 31 while Metro Manila and around 50 other areas have been placed under Alert Level 3 until the end of the month.
Galvez said the country has also been ramping up its vaccination program by increasing vaccine sites through the use of pharmacies and private clinics under the “Resbakuna sa Botika” program.
Since last week, booster shots were being administered in major pharmacies, while boosters and the first and second jabs were being given in accredited clinics. After a week, the government will expand the program to more branches in Metro Manila and in major highly-urbanized cities.
Galvez said with the new program, the government is confident that the country will be able to achieve the goal of fully inoculating 77 million Filipinos within this quarter and administer booster shots to more than 72 million individuals.
VAX AT PITX
Personnel from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will be deployed at the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) starting today to help in the vaccination drive.
Neomie Recio, MMDA director for traffic discipline, said the agency has has created a team of 20 medical and non-medical workers to help in the vaccination efforts.
Traffic enforcers will also help to manage the crowd and enforce social distancing as the agency is expecting that people to flock to the PITX.
Recio said the vaccination drive at the PITX will be for one week and will target 500 passengers and drivers.
She said the initiative has been coordinated with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and PITX management.
DOTr said vaccination at PITX will run from 8 a.m. to noon, at the second floor of PITX at Gate 4.
The DOTr has implemented the “no vaccination, no ride” policy in the National Capital Region while it is under Alert level 3. — With Noel Talacay
