Roque: Philippine vaccination program needs to be accelerated

The pace of government’s COVID-19 vaccination program should be accelerated, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Monday.

Roque was responding to the criticism of Senator Panfilo Lacson that the pace of the government’s vaccination program—with only 1.12 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine supply available so far—would mean that the country will only achieve herd immunity by 2033.

“Puedeng pabilisan pa, pero limitado pa ang ating bakuna natin,” Roque said during the Palace briefing.

[It should be sped up, but we have limited vaccine supply.]

Roque also reiterated his previous statement that giving health workers and medical frontliners the chance to choose a COVID-19 vaccine of their preference also slowed down the vaccination’s phase since one of the two vaccine brands available—Sinovac—was not recommended by the Food and Drug Administration to health workers.

Deputy Chief Implementer Vince Dizon of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 earlier said the government needs to vaccinate at least 250,000 to 300,000 individuals daily to meet the government's target of vaccinating 50 million within the year for herd immunity.

On Monday, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said around 450,000 people a day have to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19 within the year.

Roque said that such targets will be met once the bulk of ordered COVID-19 vaccines will be available by April and May, and that 1.4 million doses of Sinovac both paid for by the government and donated by the Chinese government will be delivered to the country within March.

“When we have more vaccine supply and these are distributed to local government units, the vaccination will eventually accelerate,” he added. — RSJ, GMA News