Palace: Philippines won’t be at tail end of countries in reaching herd immunity vs. COVID-19

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque assured the public on Wednesday that the Philippines will not be the last to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19 in Asia.

Roque was responding to the findings of United Kingdom-based think tank Pantheon Macroeconomics which said that herd immunity can only be achieved if 85% of the population is vaccinated due to the emergence of the more transmissible Delta variant of coronavirus, and that the Philippines could be the last to reach such herd immunity given the relatively slow pace of vaccination.

“We will prove them wrong,” Roque said at a press conference held at the  Solaire vaccination site.

“Maybe they based it on the pace of our vaccination early on when we only had Sinovac and some AstraZeneca,” Roque added.

Roque said the vaccine supply of the country has since improved with deliveries from global aid COVAX facility donating Pfizer and AstraZeneca doses, as well as the arrival of procured doses of Sinovac and Sputnik V of Russia.

The Philippines has around 12 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine supply so far. Of this number, over 8 million doses have been administered.

At least 2.6 milliom Filipinos already completed their two doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

Roque said things can only get better.

“We already reached 350,000 [vaccinated people] in a day, so it is just a matter of supply. We have the ability to vaccinate,” Roque added.

The government is eyeing to inoculate 58 million people or 70% of the population in Metro Manila, its adjacent provinces, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao combined to achieve herd immunity by the end of the year, given that these areas are densely populated and are economic centers. — RSJ, GMA News