Majority of the country's coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine supply is being distributed in the National Capital Region (NCR) and four other regions, the Department of Health (DOH) said.

The DOH said that more than half of the country's vaccine doses are being given to the NCR Plus 8 areas.

"The NCR plus 8 areas are composed of NCR, Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, Bulacan, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, and Rizal. Based on the latest data, 67 percent of the vaccine supply is distributed to NCR, Regions 4A, III, VII, and XI," the DOH said in a statement on Tuesday, May 25.

Bulacan and Pampanga are under Region III; while Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal are under Region 4A.

Meanwhile, Metro Cebu is under Region VII, while Metro Davao belongs to Region XI.

With this, the DOH reiterated “that it supports the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte on prioritizing NCR plus 8 areas for the COVID-19 vaccination program.”

“The government is eyeing the NCR plus 8 areas which have been determined to be the most populous and of highest density, thus putting these at the greatest risk for COVID-19 transmission,” it said.

“Such risks have economic and social implications, which are inherently tied to health and nutrition outcomes,” it added.

Meanwhile, the DOH disagreed with the proposal to allocate 90 percent of vaccine supply to NCR Plus 8. This was proposed by the Octa Research group, saying that this would help in reducing the number of COVID-19 cases significantly.

“This is not only impractical, but is also inappropriate and inequitable. There is a continuous need to allocate to other regions especially to cover the remaining A1, A2, and A3 population groups who have not been vaccinated, consistent with the objective of reducing hospitalizations and deaths among high risk population groups. Aside from this, allocation remains to be dependent on incoming supplies,” the DOH noted.