‘Lesson learned? We Filipinos never learn. So now we pay with our lives as the government’s vaccine rollout targets turn out to be moving ones.’
IT won’t be a happy Christmas after all, as Sec. Charlie Galvez, our vaccine czar, had promised during the March IATF huddle with the President and other key Cabinet members.
During that March briefing, Czar Charlie shared with the public the vaccine plan of the government for the next three quarters of the year that would end with a “happy Christmas” for all.
The other day, Czar Charlie made another presentation. Again, he presented the government’s vaccine plan, this time focused on the second quarter. Again, there were numbers.
Disturbingly, the latest numbers presented by Czar Charlie no longer jived with the numbers he presented last March. The latest numbers showing vaccine doses arriving in the Philippines are much lower than the March numbers. Now, if the March numbers added up to a “masayang Pasko,” then I guess the lowered numbers mean that Christmas won’t be that merry after all!
What was more disturbing was that the presentation didn’t explain why the number of doses expected to arrive in Q2 are now lower than the ones shared last March. Did they not think that people take them seriously and save copies of the numbers they share, and therefore can compare what they say today to what they said last week?
Or is every member of this government suffused with the idea that, just as Rodrigo Duterte did during the 2016 campaign, you can promise anything to the people, then forget what you promised, and the people will still love you anyway?
Is that why they no longer take pains to explain why, for March, we were told that some 1.5M to 2M doses of Sinovac and 3M doses of Gamaleya vaccines would be arriving this April or 5M doses at the upper limit? But now we are being told to expect 1.5M Sinovac (with 500,000 already delivered) and just 500,000 of Gamaleya, which totals just 2M doses.
For May, Czar Charlie told us last March to expect 2M Sinovac, 3M Gamaleya, 2.6M AstraZeneca and another 1M Covax, totaling 8.6M doses. Now, he is telling us to expect 2M Sinovac, just 1.2M Gamaleya, and 194,000 of Moderna, which doesn’t even amount to 5M doses.
Again last March we were told that for June we could expect 4M doses of Sinovac 4.5M of Gamaleya, 2M of AstraZeneca and 1M of Novavax. That’s 11.5M doses. But now we are being told to expect 4.5M Sinovac, 2M of Gamaleya and 1.3M of AstraZeneca, or 7.8M doses.
What explains the lower numbers? How will this affect the plan to get 70M Filipinos vaccinated by Christmas? Indeed, how long will we be able to achieve herd immunity via inoculation?
It’s looking more and more like the Duterte campaign promise of “within 3-6 months.” Many voters bought that promise hook, line and sinker but forgot to ask the candidate, what year? You see, the Duterte term of office is almost over and none of what was promised to be accomplished “within 3-6 months” has been accomplished.
We forgot to ask Czar Charlie what Christmas year he was promising would be a good one.
Lesson learned? We Filipinos never learn. So now we pay with our lives as the government’s vaccine rollout targets turn out to be moving ones.
We need to take some matters into our hands and do what we can to be prepared and protect ourselves. Get vaccinated at the first available opportunity. Continue to wear your masks and shields. Practice social distancing. Get health insurance and make sure you’re enrolled with PhilHealth. Also be clear with your instructions to family and do make out your Last Will and Testament!
