An apologetic vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. sought the understanding of local government units (LGUs) after the limited supply of vaccines again affected the speed of the government's vaccination program against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
During President Duterte's public address on Monday night, June 21, Galvez said each of the 81 provinces in the country could only get 15,000 to 20,000 doses of vaccines per delivery to ensure an equitable distribution of the life-saving jabs in the country.
"Kaunting pasensya lang po sa ating mga probinsiya dahil kasi pagka pinaghati-hati po natin ang lahat ng mga probinsiya, talagang ang majority po magkakaroon lang po ng 15,000 to 20,000 po ang pinakamalaki (I appeal to our provinces to have a little more patience because if we divide in the provinces, majority could only get 15,000 to 20,000 doses at most)," Galvez said.
"Na-compute na po namin iyon, Mr. President, na if we have 81 or 81 provinces kasama po ang NCR, talagang ang pinakamalaki pong makukuha ng isang probinsiya is only 15, to 20,000. Iyon lang po talaga (We computed it, Mr. President, that if we have 81 provinces including NCR, the most a province can get is only 15,000 to 20,000. That's all we have)," he added.
However, Galvez assured that the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, which he leads as the chief implementer, will ramp up the delivery of vaccines to areas outside the NCR Plus 8 (National Capital Region, Bulacan, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, Rizal, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao) which are experiencing a surge of cases if more vaccines have arrived this month and in July.
More than three million doses of vaccines are set to be delivered within the month. These include 1.5 million doses of Sinovac on June 24; and 250,000 doses of Moderna on June 27.
Further, two million doses of AstraZeneca jabs through the COVAX facility are also expected to arrive in the latter part of June.
In a separate activity in Quezon City, Galvez said the government remains committed to provide all LGUs the needed vaccines to achieve population protection in every region.
"Our priority to contain the disease and protect the most vulnerable individuals and communities is still the same," Galvez said at the launching of a multi-sectoral initiative in Quezon City that is expected to increase public uptake on the immunization program and speed up the inoculation of the city's residents.
This was his response to reports that some LGUs outside the NCR Plus 8 were complaining about the limited number of vaccine doses deployed in their cities and provinces.
Last week, Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said he would make Galvez accountable for the deaths of Cagayanos due to the lack of jabs in the province.
Galvez explained that the National Vaccination Operation Center maintains a dashboard to monitor the vaccine deployment and usage of local government units across the country.
The vaccine czar added that supplies are monitored on a daily basis to ensure that the LGUs that have utilized all of their supplies will be given priority in the next batch of deployment.