VACCINATION RATE. National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19 Chief Implementer and vaccine czar, Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr., speaks during the Talk to the People of President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night (July 12, 2021). Galvez said he is optimistic that the country will be able to increase its vaccination rate in the succeeding months, as more life-saving vaccines will be pouring in beginning this month. (Screengrab)
MANILA – Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19, is optimistic that the country will be able to increase its vaccination rate in the succeeding months, as more life-saving vaccines will be pouring in starting this month.
Galvez, also the vaccine czar, on Monday reported that the Philippines hit the 13 million mark in the vaccination program on July 10, despite some delays in the vaccine deliveries.
"We expect to increase our throughput or the administration of the jabs in the succeeding weeks and months, with the expected arrival of more than 11 million of vaccines this July," Galvez said during the Talk to People of President Rodrigo Duterte.
More than 4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines will be delivered next week, he said, including 2.5 million doses of Sinovac, 1.17 million doses of AstraZeneca, and 3,239,400 doses from the "donation sharing" initiative of the COVAX facility and the United States of America.
In August, the Philippines is slated to receive a total of 16,570,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines – 8.4 million doses of Sinovac, 1.17 million doses of AstraZeneca, 2 million doses of Pfizer, 1 million doses of Moderna, and 4 million doses from the COVAX facility, he said.
So far, the Philippines has a total of 20,779,910 doses in the stockpile, of which 9,180,310 are donated vaccines.
Meanwhile, Galvez said officials of the NTF and Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) are set to visit areas in Visayas and Mindanao that are currently experiencing a surge of Covid-19 cases.
Among these areas are the Samar and Palawan provinces, as well as the cities of Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, and Zamboanga.
"We will start visiting them next week. We will also discuss the updates on the variants of concerns on the region and the ongoing preparation to address this variant and also our way forward in our pandemic response and massive vaccination," he said.
Galvez said they might visit Region 3 (Central Luzon) over the weekend. (PNA)
