A total of 661,200 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines that were procured by the private sector and local government units (LGUs) were delivered to the country on Friday morning, September 17.
Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr., vaccine czar and chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, and Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joy Concepcion welcomed the arrival of the vaccines around 9:35 a.m. at Terminal 1 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City. The vaccines were transported by China Airlines flight CI 701.
Galvez said the AstraZeneca jabs, secured through "A Dose of Hope" program, would be a big boost to the ongoing national vaccination program which the government plans to make mandatory.
"Ito po ang tinitignan natin kasi nakita natin sa US, talagang they wanted na maging mandatory. Nakita natin sa ating datos na more than 85 percent, karamihan sa mga nandoon sa ospital ay unvaccinated at karamihan o halos lahat ng critical at nagkakaroon ng intubation ay unvaccinated (This is what we are looking at because we have seen that in the , they also want to make it mandatory. We have seen in our data that more than 85 percent or most of those who are admitted in hospitals are unvaccinated and most of critical or intubated patients are unvaccinated)," he said.
Eight percent of the newly delivered AstraZeneca vaccines will be allocated to the LGUs while the remaining 20 percent will go to the private sector.
So far, the country's COVID-19 vaccine supply has reached 58,208,810 doses. Of this, more than 40 million doses have been administered nationwide.
Concepcion said the continuous arrival of COVID-19 vaccines will help the government open up the economy because it will speed up the inoculation program.
"Malaking bagay 'yan kasi kailangan buksan na natin ang ekonomiya kasi lahat ng mga bakuna pinoprotektahan ang mga tao. Maski may breakthrough infections, 'yong mga bakunado hindi pumupunta sa ospital (This is a big boost since we really need to open up our economy and the vaccines offer protection to the people. Even if there are breakthrough infections, those vaccinated are not beind admitted in the hospital)," Concepcion said.
The Go Negosyo founder emphasized that if unvaccinated individuals get severe COVID-19 infection, they would have to be admitted in hospitals which make the healthcare capacity full.
"Kung mapuno ang hospitals natin, magla-lockdown tayo. Iyan ang dapat iwasan natin (If our hospitals are full, we will be forced into a lockdown. That's what we need to avoid)," Concepcion said.
Meanwhile, he encouraged the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to allow vaccinated individuals to do more economic activities.
"We're trying to encourage more mobility para sa mga bakunado (for those vaccinated). Somebody has to spend money para umandar ang economy (to mobilize the economy). Kung lahat tayo nasa bahay (If we are all staying in our homes), both vaccinated and unvaccinated, hindi gagalaw ang economy (the economy will not move)," he said.
He added that if the economy remains stagnant, then the country will no have no source of funds for the purchase of more vaccines, test kits, and medicines, and will be forced to borrow money from outside sources.