Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Tuesday, Nov. 9, appealed to local government units (LGUs) to have a sense of urgency in speeding up their immunization drive against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) instead of making alibis why they could not keep up with other areas.
To stress the need for the immediate ramping up of the vaccination program, Galvez warned of a possible surge that is now being experienced in other countries, particularly in Europe.
“We are appealing your sense of urgency. We are in the midst of a pandemic. We need to move faster. We are fighting an unseen enemy and there is some sort of cycle that the cases will rise again,” Galvez said.
“We are appealing to the LGUs not to make anymore alibis. Just move on and carry on the task given by the President to ramp up the vaccination,” he added.
Galvez issued the remark during the arrival of 793,900 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine that were donated by Germany to the Philippines through the COVAX facility.
According to Galvez, some countries in Europe are seeing a substantial increase in their daily cases and it could only be a matter of time before the Philippines is placed in a similar situation.
Such situation could force the national government to implement a nationwide lockdown again, although it has since recalibrated its strategies to introduce pocket lockdowns and help the economy stay afloat.
“Europe has already rising cases. We have two months to hurry up and vaccinate all the willing. We don’t know when the rises are coming so we have to maximize the vaccination,” Galvez said.
He implied that the Christmas season could usher in large gatherings among family members which may contribute to widespread infections. He said this could be avoided if majority of the population is vaccinated, hence, the immunization program shall be intensified to cover as many people as possible.
But some LGUs reportedly view the national government’s immediate call to ramp up the vaccination at the local level as “unfair” since it took several months, and not only weeks, before the National Capital Region (NCR) accomplished its vaccination target.
The NCR has already vaccinated more than 90 percent of its target population of 9.78 million eligible population.
Despite this, Galvez believes that LGUs in the provinces can still catch up with the vaccination rate of NCR if only they will implement creative strategies to encourage more people to get the life-saving jabs.
“This is a race against time. When we have a surge in Metro Manila, the NCR mayors took on the challenge,” he stated.
He also assured governors, mayors and other local leaders outside the NCR that the national government will support their vaccination drive.
He said the national government has mobilized the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) to help in the transportation of the vaccines even in the remote areas.
“We are encouraging the Philippine Medical Association and other associated groups and NGOs to help the LGUs in providing some support in terms of vaccinators and venues,” the vaccine czar said.