Senators on Tuesday, May 25, called on government to ramp up its efforts in inoculating Filipinos against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Senator Risa Hontiveros said the Interagency Task Force (IATF) on the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease must fulfill its target of vaccinating at least 60 percent of the Philippines' population by the end of 2021.
In a statement, she said the current inoculation rate is "way off track".
“Mangangalahati na ang taon. Saan na pupulutin ang ipinagsisigawan nilang ‘better Christmas’ kung ganyan kakonti pa lang ang nababakunahan sa buong bansa (We are almost into the middle of the year. Where will we get that 'better Christmas' that they are touting with the rate of the vaccinations in the country)," Hontiveros said.
"We are way below our targets. In this current scenario, 2023 pa natin maaabot ang herd immunity (We will achieve herd immunity in 2023),” she estimated.
She cited calls from experts, such as former health secretary Manuel Dayrit,for officials to ramp up vaccination to be able to trigger herd immunity, adding that the daily vaccination rate should be at least 350,000-500,000 jabs a day.
“Sa ngayon, pumapalo lang tayo ng 100,000-160,000 pagdating sa rate of vaccination kada araw. Hindi yan sapat para tapusin ang kalbaryong pinagdadaanan ng bansa sa ilalim ng pandemyang ito (Right now, we are only doing 100,000 to 160,000 vaccinations per day. That's not enough to get the country out of this pandemic)," the opposition senator said.
"If we want to see a glimpse of normalcy very soon, we have to ramp up our vaccination efforts," she pointed out.
Senator Joel Villanueva echoed this appeal. In a separate statement, he said the government was "underspeeding" in its nationwide vaccination program.
The chairman of the Senate labor committee maintained that vaccination is key in economic recovery, especially in addressing unemployment that resulted from the pandemic.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) reported that the Philippines had the worst unemployment record among seven Asian economies.
The country’s 7.1 percent official joblessness rate in March was higher than the latest figures reported by India, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Thailand, and Indonesia.
“The most effective employment formula is the more jabs we administer, the more jobs we create,” he said.
“If we can increase our vaccination rate to 325,000 doses a day, then we will be delivering 72 million doses from now until the end of the year. That 72 million is half of the 140 million doses for 70 million people required to achieve herd immunity,” he added.
“We should open more vaccination sites to more groups,” he reiterated.....
Citing the same NEDA report, Senator Grace Poe said the government should be prompted to expedite the vaccine rollout.
“Jobs are best cure for poverty, just as jabs are our relief to the pandemic. In both situations, the urgency of the action is critical,” Poe stressed.
“We must take the fast action that will allow us to not just get through COVID-19, but more crucially, gain ground that will pave the way for our sustainable growth in the coming years,” she said.
For Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, the IATF should also look into increasing the vaccine allocations for regions outside the Metro Manila to prevent the surge of COVID-19 cases.
"We appeal as well to the IATF to increase the amounts of vaccines to be given to the regions. I made this appeal weeks ago and im making this appeal again today as cases are alarming vaccinations are key to protection and herd immunity," he said in a message to reporters.
The National Task Force against COVID-19 said that 4,097,425 vaccine doses have so far been administered as of May 23.
The task force said said 3,147,486 Filipinos have received their first dose, while 949,939 were fully vaccinated.
Current vaccination rate is at 162,513 doses daily, it said.