Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. proposed to President Duterte on Monday night, May 3, a lower target in the national government's inoculation program in order for the country to achieve herd immunity by the end of 2021.
Galvez, vaccine czar and chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, said the government should focus on vaccinating around 50 million Filipinos from areas which have "economic and social importance" instead of the total population of the Philippines which is around 110 million.
"Instead na mag-concentrate tayo sa 110 million population, we have to concentrate sa 83 million population. Kung makuha natin ang 70 percent or herd immunity ng areas na ito, malaki ang chances na mare-recover natin ang economy at malaki ang chances na ma-prevent ang surge sa traditional areas na very vulnerable (Instead of concentrating in the 110 million population, we have to concentrate in the 83 million population. If we get the 70 percent or herd immunity of these areas, there are big chances that we can recover the economy and prevent a surge in the traditional areas that are very vulnerable)," Galvez told President Duterte during the latter's "Talk to the Nation" weekly address.
The vaccine czar said there should be a "prioritization of areas" in the vaccination program as he foresees a "further constriction in global supply" due to the surge of COVID-19 cases in India, a top vaccine manufacturing country, and in other nations.
"Considering na magkakaroon ng fall-off or short fall sa ating supply, we are recommending na magkaroon ng pruioritization. Titignan natin ang areas na mayroong economic at social importance at magkakaroon ng malaking problema kapag hindi naagapan (Considering that we will have a fall-off or short fall in our supply, we are recommending to have a prioritization. We will look at areas with economic and social importance, and those which will cause a big problem if a surge is not addressed immediately)," Galvez said.
These areas include the National Capital Region (NCR), Calabarzon (Region 4A), Central Luzon (Region 3), Baguio City, Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Cagayan Valley (Region 2), and other regions with high cases in Luzon.
In Visayas, included in the prioritization are Metro Cebu City, Bacolod City, Iloilo City, Western Visayas (Region 6), Central Visayas (Region 7), Eastern Visayas (Region 8), and other regions with high active cases.
In Mindanao, included are Davao City, Cagayan de Oro City, Zamboanga City, General Santos City, Iligan City, Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9), Northern Mindanao (Region 10), and Davao Region (Region 11).
"Ang recommendation po mag-concentrate sa areas na tinatamaan talaga (The recommendation is to concentrate in areas that are badly hit)," Galvez said.
The priority areas have a combined population of 83,829,719 and Galvez is thinking of using this lower baseline to vaccinate 70 percent of the said population and achieve herd immunity, instead of the more than 100 million population of the Philippines.
This would mean that the government needs to vaccinate 58,680,803 instead of its original target of 70 million people by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Galvez also raised the possibility that the delivery of the initial doses of Novavax vaccines to the country will be delayed to September as India deals with a deadly surge.
"Sa third quarter darating na po ang ibang deliveries pero yung Novavax, ang nakikita po natin dahil may nangyayari sa India, baka mabawasan o madelay po siya sa September dahil kailangang kailangan po ng India ang supply ng mga vaccines (In the third quarter, all the other deliveries will arrive but the ones from Novavax might be delayed to September because of what's happening in India and they really need the supply of vaccines)," he stated.
This was a contradiction of what Galvez said in a statement issued by the NTF on May 2 where he was quoted as saying that the worsening COVID-19 situation in India wouldn't affect the scheduled shipment "as the Philippines has a separate supply chain."
The government secured 30 million doses of CovoVax vaccines developed by American biotechnology company Novavax and being produced by the Serum Institute of India. The initial delivery was originally slated in July.