This 2021, the national government is targeting to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic by implementing a multi-pronged strategy to build up the nation’s vaccine inventory and accelerate the implementation of the immunization program.
In a statement on Good Friday, April 2, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said that the year 2021 is intended for "containment strategy."
"For 2021, our strategy is containment strategy, meaning we have to achieve a steady supply of vaccines, we have to strategize also our vaccination through the mobilization of national resources, including the national government, the LGUs (local government units), and the private sector," said Galvez, the vaccine czar and chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19.
Galvez had said that the country was being affected by a "severe" shortage of vaccines due to the scarcity in the global supply.
He said countries that manufacture COVID-19 vaccines were restricting the import of raw materials and the jabs themselves since they have also been speeding up the vaccination of their own population.
The NTF Against COVID-19 has been negotiating with international vaccine manufacturers to increase the country's supply of COVID-19 jabs.
Currently, the country has a total supply of 2,525,600 vaccine doses.
This month, the government is expecting the arrival of 2.6 million doses from China's Sinovac Biotech, Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute, and the Covax facility led by the World Health Organization.
More than 600,000 individuals were already inoculated against COVID-19 since the government launched the free immunization program last March 1.
There are 2,497 vaccination sites established across 771 cities and municipalities, Galvez said.
The government, he added, intends to raise the number of inoculations from 500,000 to one million per week.
He said it may be increased from two million to three million per week once the country has a sufficient supply of vaccines by June.
Around 70 million people are targeted to be vaccinated by year-end in order for the country to achieve herd immunity.