DOH says COVID vaccination not a race of who starts first

The Philippines is not in a race with other nations when it comes to the implementation of its vaccination program against COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday.

“Tayo ay nakapag-negotiate, at accordingly darating ang ating mga bakuna. This is not a race of who starts first, but this is really something na magagawa natin ng maayos at mabibigyan ng proteksiyon ang most of our countrymen,” DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online forum.

Vergeire was responding to questions on if the country is already lagging behind other fellow low and middle income economies, such as Bangladesh and Myanmar, which already started their own vaccination programs.

“Inaayos po lahat ng negosasyon na ‘yan. Hindi po ito talaga, in that sense, na mauna ka [sa bakunahan]. ‘Yun lang po na na talagang masigurado natin na darating ang mga bakuna at maibibigay sa dapat bigyan sa population natin. That is our goal,” she said.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. has said that the country’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout is expected to start in February, but his projection has no definite date yet.

Likewise, the Philippine government has only inked a COVID-19 vaccine supply deal with only one vaccine company so far, British firm AstraZeneca, which is good for 17 million COVID-19 vaccine doses.

AstraZeneca is administered on two doses, which means the 17 million doses will only be good for 8.5 million people.

The Philippine population is at least 108 million, and the delivery of AstraZeneca's vaccines is expected in May.

AstraZeneca has already been issued emergency use authorization (EUA) by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration.

The Philippines has registered 519,575 COVID-19 cases as of January 28. Of this number, 475,596 recovered while 10,552 died.

The number of active COVID-19 cases is at 33,427.  —KBK, GMA News