The Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Manila City government concluded their Vaccine Express project on Wednesday, June 23, with the inoculation of 4,000 individuals in its two-day run.
“Very successful kasi iyong lahat ng (because all the) supply na (that was) allocated for us ay magagamit natin (we’ll be able to use) for two days,” Vice President Leni Robredo said via Facebook Live at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) complex where the drive-through vaccination took place.
She reported that around 5:30 p.m on Wednesday, the last day of the Vaccine Express, they only have around 100 vials of the COVID-19 vaccines available.
The program was implemented on a registration basis, but there were some tricycle, pedicab, and delivery riders who took the chance of going there in the hopes of getting their jabs.
READ: Robredo-Isko Vaccine Express for trike drivers starts on June 22
“Humihingi po kami ng paumanhin dun sa mga nag-walk-in na hindi na kayang makaabot nung ating bakuna. Sa ngayon po, last 100 vials na lang kami. Sana iyong lahat nang naghihintay mabigyan pero iyong hindi po mabibigyan nagpapromise kami uulitin namin ito (We apologize to those who walked in but were not given a vaccine. Right now, we’re on our last 100 vials. We hope that everyone waiting can be given but for those who will not, we promise that we will do this again),” Robredo said.
The vice president added that once there’s an allocation of vaccines for the Vaccine Express program, her office will once more coordinate for a second run of the initiative.
Drivers who got inoculated during the two-day Vaccine Express also received a P500 fuel incentive from the SeaOil Foundation.
READ: Trike, delivery riders get gas incentive from OVP, partners for receiving COVID jabs
Robredo said that she was able to talk with some of the drivers and they were thankful that they got their jabs without needing to line up for hours in the regular vaccination sites.
These drivers, the lady official, noted can go back to their jobs after getting their vaccine dose.
The purpose of the Vaccine Express is to make it easier for the country’s economic frontliners to get their jabs. This was done to boost the government’s vaccination program now that it is starting to inoculate those in the A4 category.
Aside from thanking Manila Mayor Isko Moreno for working with her office, Robredo also thanked the OVP’s private partners—Ube Express, Shell, SeaOil, CCP, Ramesh Trading Corporation, and Smart Communications. She also expressed gratitude to the volunteer doctors and nurses from different medical schools and hospitals.