(File photo)
MANILA – Malacañang on Thursday expressed optimism that more Filipinos will get inoculated against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) as the country continues to receive more vaccines.
In an online press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the Duterte administration is expecting a faster uptick in the vaccination turnout since the supply is no longer an issue.
“So, sagana na po ngayon ang ating supply at inaasahan natin na mapapabilis natin ngayon ang ating pagbabakuna (So, we are expecting that we will be able to hasten the vaccination [in the country] since we have plenty of supply),” Roque said.
Roque’s statement came after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised worry that the allegedly “low” vaccination rate in the country might have a “very serious” impact on the economy.
IMF Asia and Pacific department director Changyong Rhee on Tuesday said prioritizing the Covid-19 vaccination would help the Philippines recover from the pandemic-induced economic slump.
According to the IMF’s Regional Outlook report for Asia and Pacific published Tuesday, the Philippines, as well as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, are “still facing severe challenges from a resurgent virus and weakness in contact-intensive sectors.”
Roque ensured that the government is doing its best to ramp up its vaccination drive against Covid-19.
The current administration, he said, hopes to administer 1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine daily.
“Kaya nga po pinabibilisan natin ang ating pagbabakuna (That is why we are ramping up our vaccination campaign),” Roque said. “Inaasahan po natin from 500, magiging 1 million iyan kung hindi 1.5 million daily (We expect that from 500,000, we will reach at least 1 million, if not 1.5 million jabs, daily).”
More vaccination sites
National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Thursday said opening more vaccination sites will help increase the country's daily jab rate of up to 1.5 million doses.
Galvez said the government earlier projected to operate about 4,500 vaccination sites nationwide to meet the country's average daily inoculation rate of 500,000 doses.
"If we have 2,500 vaccination sites now, we should generate more or less 500 to 1,000 [administration] a day. We can get that if we have more than 2,500 vaccination sites hitting 500 or 700 a day, then, we can achieve the 1.5 million so that's the strategy we did to scale up," he said in a media interview.
Galvez said the local government units (LGUs) can contribute to the national government's main goal of achieving population protection by ramping up their daily vaccination rate.
He cited the LGUs of Cagayan de Oro, Ormoc, and Las Piñas for opening more vaccination hubs that scaled up their daily jab rates.
"I recommend all the LGUs to be creative and productive such as using the shopping malls, hospitals, and clinics and establish a lot of vaccination sites," he said.
So far, 2,157 vaccination sites are operating throughout the country with an average daily dose stood at 410,305 in the last seven days.
As of Wednesday, more than 53,838,248 Covid-19 vaccine doses have already been administered nationwide.
Around 523,179 doses of vaccine were administered just on Wednesday.
About 24,876,889 individuals have already been fully vaccinated, while 28,961,359 others have received the first shot of the vaccine. (with reports from Lade Jean Kabagani/PNA)
