CAVITE - Governor Jonvic Remulla appealed anew to the Department of Health (DOH) to send more vaccines to Region 4-A local government units (LGU) amid the surging pandemic.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday (August 17), Remulla attached a graphic illustration showing the disparity between the total vaccines received by the National Capital Region (NCR) against the doses given to Region IV-A.

According to the data presented, the NCR, with a population of 13.5 million has received 12.2 million vaccines. Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon), on the other hand, with a total population of 16.2 million, only received 4.4 million vaccines.

"Sabihin na natin na ang epicenter ng pandemya ay talaga namang ang Metro Manila o NCR. Ngunit dahil kalapit ng NCR ang Cavite at Laguna, hindi maiiwasang kumalat din sa ating lalawigan ang malalang epekto ng COVID-19 (Let's say that Metro Manila is the epicenter of the pandemic. But because of the proximity of Cavite and Laguna to NCR, we can't avoid the spread of COVID-19 to our provinces)," Remulla said.

"Kaya’t hiling po sana natin sa Department of Health and on behalf of the Region 4-A LGUs, ay kung maaari bigyan naman po ng pansin ang kakulangan ng supply ng bakuna sa ating rehiyon (We appeal to the DOH, on behalf of the Region 4-A LGUs, to pay attention to the deficiency of vaccines in our region)."

The governor also reiterated that the province is procuring its own vaccine but the Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve the emergency use authorization of Novavax.

Responding to observations that the vaccination process in Cavite is "slow as a turtle," Remulla replied, "Pagong ang delivery (delivery is as slow as a turtle)."

Answering a netizen who asked how many Caviteños have been inoculated, Remulla said 19.5 percent of Cavite's target population has received the first vaccine dose while 16.7 percent has received the second dose.