ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider NTF denies Davao City received majority of Pfizer jab

NTF denies Davao City received majority of Pfizer jab

Published Jun 21, 2021 03:45 pm

The National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 on Monday, June 21, refuted allegations that Davao City, President Duterte's hometown, was allocated with the biggest portion of Pfizer vaccines.

(FILES) In this file photo taken on November 17, 2020 (FILES) shows vials with Covid-19 vaccine stickers attached, with the logo of US pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Brazilian health regulator Anvisa authorised on June 11, 2021 the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech immuniser against COVID-19 for minors over 12 years old. (FILE PHOTO)

NTF spokesperson Restituto Padilla Jr. said the government is ensuring the equitable distribution of vaccines in the country but areas experiencing a surge are being prioritized.

"There is an equitable distribution so the allocation depends on the number of persons getting sick, and some areas have the capability to support the logistics chain requirements," Padilla said in a radio interview over dzBB.

Around 2.4 million doses of Pfizer jabs have been received by the government through donations from the global initiative COVAX facility. These were composed of 193,050 doses delivered on May 10 and 2,276,820 doses which arrived on June 10.

In the delivery made on June 10, the NTF had said that 210,000 doses of Pfizer jabs were transported each to Metro Cebu and Metro Davao while the remaining were allocated to "NCR Plus" areas.

But Padilla clarified that the allocation in Davao was meant to support the entire Davao Region (Region 11), and not just Davao City. Davao Region is comprised of five provinces and six cities, including Davao City.

The Department of Health (DOH) said Davao City is one of the "areas of concern" as a surge of infections was observed in the area. In the first week of June, Davao City had a growth rate of 54 percent while its attack rate was at 11.34 percent.

This translated to high to critical risk health care and ICU utilization rates, which means more people are getting hospitalized.

"We are particularly monitoring the situation in Davao because it has the highest attack rate now, according to DOH," Padilla said.

The allegations that Davao City has been getting special treatment in the government's immunization program arose as NTF Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. announced the signing of the supply agreement for the procurement of 40 million doses of Pfizer on Sunday, the biggest vaccine procurement made by the government this year.

The delivery of the vaccines will start after eight weeks or around end of August.

Padilla said the arriving Pfizer vaccines will be distributed in NCR Plus areas since it is the "focus" of the immunization program but he added that "surge areas" or those with increasing COVID-19 cases will also be prioritized.

The retired military general explained that the allocation of vaccines depends on the capability of local government units (LGUs) to handle the sensitive cold chain requirement of Pfizer, which needs to be stored in a -80 degree centigrade facility to maintain its efficacy.

"We allocate the vaccines that are easy to maintain, like Sinovac and AstraZeneca, in areas with no ultra cold chain capability so they will not be burdened and the vaccines will not be spoiled. It would be a waste to spoil the sensitive vaccines," Padilla said.

"But we can transport Pfizer vaccines to remote areas as long as the logistics chain requirement is met," he noted.

Related Tags

Pfizer covid-19 davao city pandemic
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.