When will Philippines get enough COVID-19 vaccines? Duterte says, I don't know

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday night acknowledged he is uncertain when the Philippines would have enough supply of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine to inoculate the Filipino people.

"To our sadness, the stocks coming are barely enough to inoculate the health workers. Sila naman talaga ang priority,” Duterte said in his second televised address this week.

“When will we have that stock sufficient to vaccinate the people?  I really do not know. Nobody knows,” the president added.

So far, only vaccines from China’s Sinovac and from British drug-maker AstraZeneca are available in the Philippines although the government assured that more supplies will be delivered from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson in the coming months.

Meanwhile, Duterte called on the public to not be afraid as the Philippines is “not really at a total loss of what to do.”

“Do not be afraid. Government is working. Government is busy doing everything, not nothing,” he said. “Government is trying to get the things to fix all of us.”

The national government aims to vaccinate 70% of the country’s population to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19.

Over 1.2 million doses of vaccines against COVID-19 have been administered as of April 13, government data showed.

In their latest vaccine statistics bulletin, the Department of Health and National Task Force Against COVID-19 said 1,255,716 doses have been administered out of the 3,025,600 doses delivered to the country.

A total of 1,093,651 people have gotten their first shot and 162,065 individuals have received both doses since the start of the rollout on March 1.

The country has so far recorded a total of 904,285 cases of COVID-19 including 183,527 active cases, 705,164 recoveries and 15,594 deaths.—LDF, GMA News