The local government units (LGUs) outside Metro Manila have requested for additional coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) vaccines as the national government ramps up the country’s vaccination program.

This is following the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s (DILG’s) call ordering the province to expedite their respective inoculation programs and escape sanctions with more vaccines of various brands arriving in the country.

“Yung dati po ay naka-focus po at binigyan ng maraming (COVID-19 vaccine) supply yung (National Capital Region). So mga 40 percent lang po yung para sa ibang mga (LGUs) sa buong bansa. So ngayon nga po ay nag-request kami ng mga additional na bakuna para po doon sa mga LGUs naman na labas dito sa NCR (Previously the focus on more supplies was on NCR. So only about 40 percent are provided for the others in the whole country. So now we requested for additional vaccines for the LGUs outside NCR),’’ said League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) president and Marinduque Governor Presbitero Velasco Jr. said in a report over ABS-CBN news.

“Alam niyo nga po ay mga 18 percent to 32 percent pa lang ang range ng bakunahan sa mga ibang local government units so hinihiling na po namin dagdagan na nga po (You know the range of the inoculation program in the other local government units is only between 18 to 32 percent so far),’’ he added.

Explaining further, Velasco noted that the priority areas in the provinces get the vaccines but the LPP had sought for more if the LGUs can prove their capability to handle more supplies and inoculate more of their constituents.

He noted that the National Task Force on COVID-19 and the Department of Health are “generous’’ if the LGUs make their requests adding that it depends on the capacity of the concerned locality to handle more vaccine supplies.

Even without the delivery woes, Velasco stressed that the aid from the private sector with vehicles will further speed up the delivery of the vaccines in the country.

“Yun naman pong pagdadala ng bakuna ay yan po ay talagang nasa poder po ng NTF at sila po yung mga may gamit na mga sasakyan o eroplano o barko whatever, at ‘yan po ay naide-deliver (vaccines) naman po (The delivery of the vaccines lie in hands of the NTF and they have the vehicles or airplanes or ships whatever and that they were able to deliver),’’ Velasco added.

But Velasco still saw the need for private firms with aerial or water resources to asisst the government in the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccines to hasten the process. (Chito A. Chavez)