Galvez says 98% of vaccines deployed
By Ella Dionisio
National Task Force Against COVID-19 and Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Monday night said 98 percent or 1, 105, 500 of the total vaccines were deployed for the first quarter.
In a meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte, Galvez said a total of 369,049 healthcare workers were inoculated.
“This is 48.70 percent of our targeted first dose,” he said.
Galvez said 400,000 doses of donated Sinovac will arrive on March 24, while the 979,000 AstraZeneca vaccines from the World Health Organization (WHO)- COVAX facility may arrive between March 24 to 26.
Meanwhile, the one million Sinovac doses procured by the government will be delivered on March 29.
“Total doses to arrive for the first quarter are 2,379,200 doses,” Galvez said.
For the second quarter, Galvez said 5.5 million doses are expected to arrive in April where two million doses will be coming from Sinovac, three million from Gamaleya, and one million from COVAX.
A total of 8,974,000 million COVID-19 vaccine doses are also expected to be delivered in May which will come from Sinovac, Gamaleya, AstraZeneca, COVAX, and Moderna.
“Our targeted vaccination by April and May, we are aiming to have 500,000 to one million per week,” he said.
Galvez also said 11.5 million doses from Sinovac, Gamaleya, Novavax and AstraZeneca will arrive in June.
“We thank the Department of Finance for the steady commitment being done with our (vaccine) manufacturer,” he said.
For the third quarter, he said 13.5 million vaccine doses will arrive in July, while 20 million shots will be delivered in August.
Galvez said the target vaccination from June to July will be one to two million per week.
In September, 20 million vaccine doses will be delivered.
For the fourth quarter, Galvez said a total of 60 million vaccine doses are expected to be procured.
“We will now have steady supply,” he said.
Galvez also recommended simultaneous inoculation just like in other countries where there is no need to finish the vaccination of healthcare workers before vaccinating the other essential workers.
“While (health workers) are waiting for the second shots, they also started (vaccinating) the elderly, public services workers and essential workers,” he said.
Galvez said this is a good way in balancing the health and economy. DMS
