National Task Force against COVID-19 Deputy Chief Implementer Vince Dizon said on Tuesday, May 18, President Duterte has approved expanding the vaccination priority group to the A4 category.
The A4 category covers economic frontline workers such as public transport drivers, security guards, and market vendors.
The current vaccination plan covers the top three priorities: healthcare workers, seniors, and persons with comorbidities.
"Inaprubahan na ng pangulo ang expansion natin sa economic frontliners at national government frontliners, ang tinatawag nating A4 category, sa mga susunod na linggo (Our president has already approved our expansion into economic frontliners and national government workers, what we call the A4 category, in the coming weeks," Dizon bared in a televised Palace briefing.
He added that the A4 group would also include the police and military.
"Mag-uumpisa na po tayo rito. Ang importante po ngayon ay bilisan natin at palawakin natin ang pagbabakuna para yung mga gustong magpabakun at yung mga kailangang-kailangan mabakunahan, ay mabakunahan na natin (We'll start there. The important thing now is that we speed up and expand the vaccination for those who want to be vaccinated and those who really need to be vaccinated)," Dizon said.
"Napakaimportante nyan para maprotektahan natin yung mga frontliner natin at mabuksan na natin nang todo-todo ang ating ekonomiya (That's very important so we can protect our frontliners and to fully open our economy)," the testing czar added.
Dizon said the expansion to A4 and A5 will focus on Metro Manila, Pampanga, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao.
The A5 category refers to the indigent population.
As of May 17, the country's vaccine supply stands at 7,779,050 doses, where 7,149,020 doses were already distributed to various hospitals nationwide.
Of these, 3,001,875 vaccine doses have already been utilized; 2,282,273 doses were given as a first dose while 719,602 doses were used for the second dose.
A total of 4,147,145 doses have yet to be administered, while 630,030 doses remain in the inventory.