Velasco tells IATF to prioritize vaccination of NCR Plus, other urban areas

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco on Monday called on the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to prioritize the NCR Plus and other urban areas with high concentration of COVID-19 infections in the vaccination program.

In a statement, Velasco said these areas should be prioritized after all medical frontliners across the country are fully vaccinated against the disease.

"As we await large supplies of vaccines to come in, we urge the IATF to prioritize NCR Plus and other urban centers in our vaccine rollout so we can quell the surge in new infections in those areas,” he said.

“But first and foremost, let us vaccinate all 1.7 million health care workers all over the country to make sure they are protected against COVID-19.”

Velasco said aside from Metro Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Rizal and Laguna, the national government should also prioritize the vaccine allocation of Mega Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and other regional centers nationwide.

Velasco said the best defense against the “superspreader variants” would be the inoculation process.

"Our efforts should be strategic as we wait for the time until our vaccine supplies become stable,” the House leader said.

So far, the Philippines has fully vaccinated 246,986 individuals against COVID-19.

A total of 1,809,801 doses have been administered at 3,415 vaccination sites across the country. --Anna Felicia Bajo/KBK, GMA News