The Philippines received 1 million additional doses of China's CoronaVac vaccines Sunday for distribution to the Visayas and Mindanao, which have been experiencing spikes in COVID-19 cases.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III welcomed the arrival of the Sinovac jabs on board Cebu Pacific Flight 5J671 that arrived at 7:22 a.m. at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Galvez said most of the additional batch of Sinovac vaccines will be distributed to areas in the Visayas and Mindanao upon the orders of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“The President would also like other areas, especially those with high cases, to be given the vaccines, like Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, Butuan and other areas like Region 6 (Western Visayas),” he said in a press briefing.
With the arrival of 1 million doses of the Sinovac jab, Galvez said the government is looking to administer 4 million to 5 million more doses of COVID-19 vaccines before the end of June.
“Our target for this month is to have 4 to 5 million vaccinations,” he said.
He said the government has so far administered nearly 6 million doses.
“We have vaccinated some 5.9 million; we are nearing the 6 million mark,” he said. “This coming week… our target is to reach 6 million (doses),” Galvez said.
The country has so far received 9.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, including 6.5 million Sinovac jabs.
Galvez said more vaccines that are set to arrive in the coming days will be deployed to the National Capital Region (NCR) Plus 8.
The NCR Plus 8 area is composed of Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, Bulacan, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, and Rizal.
Aside from China-made CoronaVac, other COVID-19 vaccine brands in the country’s inventory are AstraZeneca (UK), Sputnik V (Russia), Sinopharm (China) and Pfizer (US).
Duque said the vaccination of the economic frontliners both from the private and public sectors under the A4 category beginning today (Monday) will help boost economic recovery.
“They are the so-called economic frontliners. So, it is very important that we start their inoculation,” Duque said.
The government is set to conduct a symbolic vaccination rollout for economic front-liners at the Mall of Asia (MOA) in Pasay City today.
About 30 million Filipinos will benefit under the A4 category from June to November.
Covered by A1 are frontline workers in health facilities; A2—senior citizens; A3 —persons with co-morbidities; and A4—frontline personnel in essential and working sectors.
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said the government is almost finished using up the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines that expire on June 30.
Testing czar Vince Dizon earlier said 85 percent of 1.5 million AstraZeneca doses have been utilized as the first dose among recipients.
“We are almost done. We have set the guidelines that all vaccines expiring by June 30 will be used," Cabotaje said during an interview on Dobol B TV.
More than 500,000 AstraZeneca shots —having a shelf life until July 31—will be used for the second dose, she said.
Cabotaje encouraged local government units to start mobile vaccination efforts in communities to ensure the vaccination of senior citizens and other priority groups during the rainy season.
“Some have started mobile and house-to-house vaccination for bed-ridden recipients,” Cabotaje said in Filipino.
She also suggested extending vaccination hours to inoculate more people.
Meanwhile, Cabotaje advised second-dose recipients who traveled and got stranded somewhere by quarantine restrictions to get their second dose nearby local government units.
Meanwhile, Galvez said three experts from Israel's Ministry of Health will be arriving June 20 to help the Philippines enhance its inoculation efforts.
Galvez, chief implementer of the government's COVID-19 response, said the Philippines hopes to benefit from the expertise of the Israelis, who ran a “highly successful” vaccination program.
The government, he said, is looking at adopting Israel's interventions on increasing public uptake, which is to provide incentives for vaccine recipients and restrictions for those who have yet to get coronavirus jabs.
Galvez said Israel’s method allows people who have received the jabs to increase their mobility and slowly return to normalcy, while those who have not been vaccinated will still need to follow quarantine protocols.
Israel officially dropped its outdoors face mask policy in April 18, after inoculating more than half of its population with Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.
It has also reopened schools and revived economic activities.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Sunday commended the innovative efforts of some local government units (LGUs) to roll out the vaccines in their various localities.
“As of now, only the vaccine can stop this pandemic. The more people getting vaccinated, the earlier we can end this pandemic," DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said in Filipino.
In San Luis, Pampanga, there is the "Baka Para sa Bakuna" project where a cow will be raffled every month starting July to qualified vaccinated residents. In Sucat, Muntinlupa, residents who get vaccinated are eligible to join a weekly raffle where they can win 25 kilograms of rice.
In Bulacan, a census was conducted to prepare the municipality’s demographic profile for vaccination efforts and to assess the personal views of the residents on vaccines. In Biñan, Laguna, the LGU conducted a house-to-house vaccine registration of senior citizens and indigent families.
“The out-of-the box initiatives by some LGUs can be replicated by other LGUs so they too can fast track their COVID-19 vaccination efforts. By taking giant leaps, we can all move forward towards achieving the added layer of protection against COVID-19 and its variants,” he said.
Also on Sunday, Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko” Moreno” Domagoso urged Health officials to divulge the scientific basis for requiring people to wear face shields on top of face masks.
“We cannot go on like this without proving to our people the scientific basis of any policy with health protocols,” Domagoso said in an interview on ANC.
The mayor issued the remark after his proposal to stop the mandatory wearing of face shields outside homes was rejected by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and other officials.