Philippines
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As more vaccines arrive, PH confident 70M people can be inoculated this year
As more vaccines arrive, PH confident 70M people can be inoculated this year
The government is not backing down from its goal to vaccinate 70 million Filipinos this year in a bid to attain herd immunity against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque expressed confidence that the vaccination program remained on track as more vaccine supplies are expected to arrive in the coming months.
"Huwag kayong matakot, malalampasan din natin ang pandemyang ito (Do not be afraid. we can overcome the pandemic)," Roque said during a televised press briefing Thursday, April 29.
"Malapit na 'yan dahil sabi nga ni Secretary (Carlito) Galvez na kahit anong mangyari ay kampante pa rin tayo na mababakunahan ang 50 to 70 million itong taon na ito (That will happen soon because Secretary Galvez said that regardless of what happens, we are confident we can vaccinate 50 to 70 million people this year)," he added.
The government aims to secure 140 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to inoculate 70 million Filipino adults to achieve herd immunity this year.
So far, the country has received 4 million doses of vaccines, including 500,000 Sinovac shots purchased from China that arrived Wednesday. More than 1.5 million Filipinos have received their first coronavirus shots since the immunization drive began last month.
Under the government's vaccine delivery schedule, Galvez said the country can expect the arrival of around 4 million vaccine doses next month.
The forthcoming supply includes the first 15,000 Sputnik V vaccines which are expected to be delivered on May 1. The delivery of the Russian-made vaccines was supposed to arrive last Wednesday but was pushed back due to logistical challenges.
Another 1.5 million Sinovac doses will be delivered on May 7, according to the vaccine czar.
Galvez said the bulk of the country's vaccine supplies, or around 9 to 10 million doses, will start arriving this June. The shipment includes the government procured 194,000 Moderna doses, 4.5 million Sinovac doses and 2 million Sputnik V doses. Additional 1.3 million AstraZeneca doses purchased by the private sector as well as 2.3 million Pfizer doses from the COVAX facility are expected to arrive this June.
The remaining vaccine orders will arrive by July until the end of the year, he added.
As more vaccines are set to arrive in the country, Galvez assured that the inoculative drive will likely be accelerated.
He noted that the country's 5,000 vaccination sites could administer 500,000 a day. The number of vaccinated people can further increase amid government plans to establish more "mega vaccination sites" in the country.
"Pagka mayroon tayong steady supply, kayang-kaya natin i-expand ang vaccination capacity (Once we have a steady supply, we can expand our vaccination capacity)," he added.