Senator Panfilo Lacson stated that the current, slow pace of COVID-19 vaccine inoculations would make it difficult for the government to achieve its aim to inject the jab to at least 70 million Filipinos.
At present, Sen. Lacson stated that the country averages 4,000 a day, and with this rate, he shared that it will take at least 12 years to reach the target.
“At the rate of about 4,000 [inoculations] a day, assuming that the vaccination is not accelerated and assuming we will have the vaccines for the 70 million targeted population for herd immunity, we might not achieve herd immunity until 2033 at the rate we’re doing it now,” said Sen. Lacson.
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Sen. Lacson furthered that as of March 10, only 114,615 Filipinos have received their first jab of the COVID-19 vaccine.
He urges the government would ramp up its efforts to hasten the process of inoculation.
“But if we accelerate, and I hope the government would accelerate the vaccination rollout, then maybe we can advance the timetable. Unless we accelerate the pace of vaccination, it will take us a long time,” said Sen. Lacson.
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Sen. Lacson also hopes that the country, through Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez Jr. would continue their ongoing efforts to procure more vaccines for the Philippines.
“We really need to procure, and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. is scrambling to really work on the supply. We can only hope there are no gaps in deliveries and therefore no halt, and instead, the vaccination will keep going,” Lacson said.
