Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 11) — The government is projecting to have a total COVID-19 vaccine inventory of over 20 million by June.
During a televised Cabinet meeting on Monday night, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. explained that they expect to receive a total of 7,308,400 million doses this month from Pfizer, Sinovac, and Sputnik V. This includes those that have arrived early this month from Russia, China, and the World Health Organization’s COVAX facility.
Next month, around 9,150,000 doses are projected to arrive from Pfizer, Sinovac, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Sputnik V.
“Bago po matapos ang buwan ng June, ine-expect natin na mayroon tayo sa ating inventory na 20,514,000 doses. Kaya na po nito lahat iyong A1, A2, A3,” Galvez explained, referring to the top priority groups namely healthcare workers, senior citizens, and people with comorbidity.
[Translation: Before the month of June ends, we expect to have an inventory of 20,514,000 doses. This can cover all A1, A2, A3.]
To date, the government has received over 7 million coronavirus shots, of which over 4 million have been deployed.
Galvez also said they target to immunize up to 58 million Filipinos through its “focus and expand” strategy. He explained that this strategy will be adopted considering that the main variable that will affect the vaccine rollout will be global supply.
“Ang maganda po talaga magkaroon tayo ng strategy na focus and expand through center of gravity. Iyong center of gravity ito po iyong tinatawag na economic center at the same time ito po iyong vulnerable areas so pagka na-address po natin, ma-strengthen natin ang ating vulnerabilities at the same time we strengthen our economic strength,” he explained.
[Translation: It is good for us to have a focus and expand through center of gravity strategy. The center of gravity is what we call the economic center at the same time these are the vulnerable areas so if we address this, we strengthen our vulnerabilities and we strengthen our economic strength.]
Galvez specifically noted that focus areas, namely Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Pampanga, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao, will have a steady supply of coronavirus shots to ensure unhampered implementation of the program.
Earlier, the vaccine czar mentioned a list of areas to be prioritized in the immunization program as the country expects delivery delays from global manufacturers amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in India.
Galvez said they target to achieve herd containment through immunization of around 25 million Filipinos in the most vulnerable groups by September 2021. In effect, this will reduce hospitalization and deaths, he noted.
Meanwhile, he mentioned the same target for achieving herd immunity by vaccinating up to 70 million Filipinos by November 2021. Inoculation of a total of 110 million Filipinos for the elimination of the disease is seen by the second quarter of 2022, Galvez noted.
As of May 9, around 2.4 million Filipinos have received their COVID-19 vaccine, 1.9 million of which were given their first dose.
Latest data from the Department of Health shows that total COVID-19 cases in the country have reached 1,108,826, with 59,897 tagged as active cases.
