The government has downgraded its target population who will be vaccinated against COVID-19 due to challenges in the global vaccine supply.
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said that the government is now shifting its strategy to population protection against the effects of the coronavirus. The vaccination program will focus now on the National Capital Region, two major cities and six other provinces or the NCR Plus 8.
“So, the term we use is really ‘population protection.’ We prevent hospitalization, we prevent and minimize deaths by prioritizing [areas]. And the bigger the population that is vaccinated, we have population protection, so there will be no more transmission,” she said.
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Cabotaje said that in case a virus is transmitted these would only involve mild symptoms.
Cabotaje said the government had targeted to vaccinate that many Filipinos by the end of this year or early next year.
The country had so far procured only 8,279,050 shots from Sinovac (5.5 million) AstraZeneca (2,556,000) Pfizer (193,050) and Gamaleya (30,000). That is enough for a single dose for only 7.54 percent of the population.
From 70 percent of the entire population, the government is eyeing to vaccinate 50-60 percent of the population focused in the NCR Plus 8 areas.
In addition to Metro Manila, these critical areas include Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, Bulacan, Pampanga, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna and Batangas. (TDT)
