Testing czar Secretary Vince Dizon is bullish that herd immunity can be achieved in Metro Manila and other provinces before the end of the year.

The national government is targeting to reach herd immunity against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the National Capital Region (NCR) and other key provinces in the country by November.

“We are confident that it is doable,” Dizon, who is also the deputy chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, said in a virtual briefing during the launch of “Ingat Angat, Bakuna Lahat” campaign on Friday, May 14.

The initiative aims to boost the public’s trust on the vaccines, and reduce vaccine hesitancy in order to encourage more poeple to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

“As we’ve seen in the plan involving the private sector, multiple sites especially mega vaccination sites, with outputs of a thousand jabs per day in each site will allow us to really achieve our target for herd immunity for the NCR-plus area including Metro Cebu and Metro Davao before the end of the year,” he said.

With a total population of 110 million, the government is aims to vaccinate 70 percent or around 70 million Filipinos in order to achieve herd immunity by the end of 2021.

But with the limited supply of vaccines, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. proposed that the government prioritize the areas that have “economic and social importance” in the vaccination program.

“So we are confident that this can happen. The good news is the supply is coming and this was rally the major challenge from the beginning,” Dizon said

“But we are confident that with the LGUs doing very well and with the private sector pitching in and opening up all these mega sites in malls, various multipurpose facilities through the country, we can achieve this,” he added.

In order the achieve the herd immunity in Metro Manila, roughly 120,000 jabs should be administered daily in order to reach the target.

“So as long as we get the supply, bring that to the LGUs, plus the efforts of the private sector, we’re confident that we can do this,” Dizon said.

The official said what they are trying to do is to build a coalition between the private sector, the national government and the local government units (LGUs).

“Everybody really pitches in with the end objective of vaccinating as many and as fast as we can, that is the goal to put is simply,” Dizon said.

The LGUs are obviously taking the lead in the vaccination on the ground, but with the private sector, especially when the doses that have been procured by private sector come in, then it's really going to be an effort of all sectors,” he added.