As the National Capital Region (NCR) inches closer to finishing the inoculation of its around 9.78 million residents against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), majority of the arriving vaccines in the fourth quarter of the year will be allocated in other Luzon provinces, the country's vaccine czar revealed Thursday night, Aug 26.
Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr., vaccine czar and chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, said 7,653,227 residents (96.19 percent) out of the total 9,776,356 eligible population in NCR have already received one dose of the vaccine against COVID-19.
There remains 2,123,129 people (3.81 percent) who are unvaccinated, he said.
"Inano lang po namin ang mga different provinces na I would like to ask some patience because talagang inuna lang po natin ang mga surge area at saka inuna po natin ang NCR dahil napakalaki po ng risk natin sa economic at saka tinatawag nating sa health risk considering ito po 'yung mga epicenter (I would like to ask some patience from the different provinces because we prioritized the surge areas and NCR due to the big economic and health risks they have considering these are the epicenters)," Galvez said in a Cabinet meeting with President Duterte.
The vaccine czar said NCR will receive 4.36 million vaccines in the fourth quarter including around 951,692 doses in September to finish the inoculation of its eligible population and prepare for the inclusion of other sectors such as the pediatric population.
The highest vaccine allocation in the fourth quarter will go to CALABARZON which covers Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon provinces (Region 4A) and Central Luzon (Region 3).
CALABARZON, which has vaccinated 2.94 million residents out of 11.45 million eligible population, will receive 17.48 million doses in the final quarter. Meanwhile Central Luzon, which has inoculated 1.92 million residents out of 8.76 million eligible population, will be given 14.04 million doses.
In September, CALABARZON and Central Luzon are set to receive 3.81 million and 3.06 million doses, respectively.
Also prioritized are Western Visayas (Region 6), Eastern Visayas (Region 7), Ilocos (Region 1), SOCCSKSARGEN which covers South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, and General Santos City (Region 12), Davao (Region 11), and Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9).
"Simula po ng September, 25 million po ang ating projected na makukuha at nakikita po natin na ang lalaki na po dito 'yong Region IV-A at saka 'yong Region III and other regions. Iyong NCR po, ang matatanggap na lang po niya is less than one million (Beginning September, we projected that we will receive 25 million and majority of the allocation will go to Region IV-A, Region 3, and other regions)," Galvez said.