Areas with high numbers of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases will get additional vaccine allocations, the Department of Health (DOH) said Saturday, June 12.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said 60 percent of vaccines that arrived last week will go to high-risk areas.
"Kung halimbawa ang isang lugar tumataas ang kaso, binibigyan po natin sila ng additional allocation (If, for example, in an area, the case increase, then we'll give them additional allocation). For this batch of vaccines that has arrived, ang sabi po ni Secretary Galvez, 60 percent will be provided to those areas with high number of cases now," Vergeire said.
"Kailangan po nating ipaalala sa local government, hindi lang po bakuna ang ating armas para malabanan ang impeksyon, ang pinakaimportante pa rin po mapatupad natin mga health safety protocols tsaka yung response po natin on ground mapag-igting natin para katulong ang bakuna mapababa po natin ang mga kaso (We need to remind the local government that vaccines are not our only weapon, the most important thing is the implementation of health and safety protocols and to intensify our fight on ground so we can help reduce cases)," she added.
Vergeire said the health department was "closely monitoring" Visayas and Mindanao due to rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in these areas.
On Friday, DOH said that Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao, Caraga, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) showed high two-week positive growth rates in COVID-19 cases.
The country's total vaccine supply now stands at around 12.7 million.