League of Provinces urges gov't to send more vaccines to MGCQ areas

League of Provinces of the Philippines president Presbitero Velasco Jr. on Sunday urged the national government to send more COVID-19 vaccines to provinces, especially those under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).

Velasco, who is also Marinduque governor, noted that he understands that vaccine supplies are still limited for now. 

"Hindi naman ho natin sila ma-be-blame sila sa ganyan. Alam naman natin na kaunti pa ang supplies pa dahil pahirapan pa po," Velasco said over Dobol B TV.

(We can't blame the government for the lack of supplies. We know that it is difficult to secure supplies.)

"Nakikita sa territory ng LGUs (local government units), lalo na sa MGCQ medyo dagdagan nang marami-rami ang bakuna na mabigay. Malaking posibilidad na magkaroon ng malaking proteksyon ang nabakunahan so dagdagan pa po," he added.

(We can see in LGUs especially under MGCQ, we need to add more vaccine supplies. There is high protection if you get vaccinated so we need to add more supplies.) 

Since areas in the NCR Plus bubble (Metro Manila, Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite, and Rizal) are now under general community quarantine (GCQ), Velasco hopes that vaccination will be done faster to reach herd immunity.

"Dahil nga nagluwag sa mga NCR Plus at ibang MECQ areas dati eh hinihiling namin na bigyan na po kaagad ng marami-raming bakuna na para 'yung kanya-kanyang mga probinsya para papunta na sa herd immunity. 'Yan ang aming hiling," the governor said, adding that supplies are still low in provinces.

(Since we already lowered the quarantine status, we are asking that we receive more vaccines to provinces so that we can reach herd immunity.)

However, the national government said heightened restrictions will be enforced for areas under GCQ. 

Velasco said so far, provincial governments already made payments and orders for vaccines but the supply has yet to arrive.

"Halos walang magamit na bakuna. 'Yung iba nabayaran talagang kakaunti o halos wala pang dinedeliver," he said.

(We have little to no vaccines. Some have paid but it is still not enough and some supplies have yet to be delivered.)

The Philippines so far inoculated over 2 million people against COVID-19, which is still far from its target of vaccinating 50 million to 70 million individuals. —KG, GMA News