Huge allocations of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine--enough to inoculate 10 million people--will be sent to the provinces of Region IV-A or Calabarzon in the last four months of the year.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque gave this assurance to Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla on Thursday, Aug. 26, just hours after the latter made a cry for help on social media regarding the province's difficultly in obtaining ample supply of the life-saving jabs.
"Well, Governor Remulla, your wish is granted," Roque said during a virtual press briefing.
"Talaga naman pong pinaplano ng gobyerno na ngayong malapit nang mag-50 percent ang Metro Manila ay karamihan na po ng mga bakuna ay ipapadala natin doon sa mga karatig-probinsiya ng Metro Manila, iyong 'plus' areas, pati na rin po doon sa mga lugar na nagsu-surge ‘no (It's the government's plan to send the bulk of the vaccines to nearby provinces, the 'plus' areas, and places with case surges, now that Metro Manila is nearing 50 percent fully-vaccinated status)," he said.
According to the Palace mouthpiece, Region IV-A--composed of Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, Quezon, Rizal, and the city of Lucena--will receive 3,814,000 vaccine doses in September.
"And for the rest of the fourth quarter, IV-A will receive the biggest allocation at 17,475,388 ," added Roque.
"So you can see that in the last quarter, magkakaroon po kayo ng almost 20 million dosages na (you will have almost 20 million doses that will be) good for ten million. So inaasahan po natin na makakahabol po ang plus areas sa Metro Manila (So we expect the plus areas to catch up with the vaccination rate of Metro Manila)," he said.
Roque added that Region III or Central Luzon (Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, and Zambales) will be receiving 17 million this fourth quarter.
As for Metro Manila, Roque said that one million vaccine doses will be received by the region next month, while only four million jabs will be sent there for the fourth quarter.
Remulla, in a Facebook post Thursday, said Cavite would a total of six million doses to achieve herd immunity, or inoculating 70 percent of its target population against COVID-19. However, the province has only received one million doses from the national government so far.
Cavite reportedly has 12,936 active cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday, Aug. 25.
Remulla, a last-minute supporter of the presidential campaign of then-Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte, also appealed to the national government to let local government units (LGUs) procure their own COVID vaccines.