MANILA – National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Thursday night that the National Capital Region (NCR), key cities in Luzon, and the southern cities of Cebu and Davao would receive the majority of the latest delivery of 728,910 Pfizer vaccine doses.
Galvez, who personally received the vaccine’s arrival at the NAIA in Pasay City, estimated that around 51,480 will be unloaded in Cebu City and 92,430 would be transported to Davao City on Friday.
“So, we are targeting Manila, Metro Cebu and Davao. They will have a threshold of at least 80 percent [of the eligible population vaccinated] before the end of October. Kaya binibigyan natin sila ng supplies (That’s why we’re giving them supplies),” Galvez said.
He added that, aside from the three urban areas in Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao, the government’s immunization program also targets Regions 4-A (Calabarzon) and 3 (Central Luzon) because of their proximity to the NCR.
“We will now consider NCR and Region 4-A and Region 3 as one geographic location. Kasi we can see na ‘yung economic activity, hindi natin pwede paghiwalayin (Because we can see that their economic activity, we can’t separate them),” Galvez said.
The vaccination rate in the major cities of Regions 4-A and 3 will be on level with the NCR, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao by the end of November, he noted.
About 11 million Pfizer doses have been delivered in the country so far, with more coming in October as procurement or donations from the COVAX Facility and the United States, according to Galvez.
Galvez said the Philippines will obtain more life-saving vaccines from the US government as part of the 500 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines pledged by US President Joe Biden to low and medium-income countries.
“Nakikita natin na talagang maganda na, steady na ‘yung supply na binibigay satin ng (We can see that things are looking good, we have a steady supply from) COVAX and also we would like to thank the US government for providing us with the access to western vaccines,” he added.
A shipment of more than one million Pfizer doses, procured by the national government, arrived in the country on Sept. 22.
As of now, there are 66.9 million doses of various Covid-19 vaccines have been delivered to the country.
