Gov’t expands priority areas for COVID-19 vaccination; NCR supply won’t be reduced

The government has expanded the priority areas for its COVID-19 vaccination program to include 10 cities outside the initial Metro Manila plus 8 areas, but not at the expense of reducing vaccine allocation for the National Capital Region (NCR), the Palace said Thursday.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque was referring to the inclusion of 10 cities—Bacolod, Iloilo City, Cagayan De Oro, Baguio, Zamboanga, Dumaguete, Tuguegarao, General Santos, Naga and Legazpi—in the priority list alongside Metro Manila (15 cities and one municipality), Pampanga, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao.

“These cities were added because of their increasing COVID-19 cases, being highly urbanized and densely populated, and their contribution to regional or national economy,” Roque said.

Roque added that adding cities to the priority list will not reduce the National Capital Region's vaccine allocation, as the addition will still be subject to increase in supplies.

He also cited molecular biologist Fr. Nick Austriaco's recent presentation which, according to Roque, said that it is important to attain "population protection" in the NCR Plus region, "because the ink that's spreading comes from here and when we stop the source of the ink, we will decrease the number of cases in the entire country," he said in mixed Filipino and English.

The Department of Health defines "population protection" as reducing the number of deaths and hospitalized patients through vaccination. Government advisor Dr. Ted Herbosa said “population protection” means preventing severe illness and deaths among vulnerable groups such as health workers, senior citizens, and persons with comorbidities.

Austriaco backed Roque in saying that the vaccine supply should remain stable in Metro Manila and major cities, saying this is needed to build a wall against the coronavirus.

“Vaccinating the cities would protect our rural kababayans from the virus, because the virus will pass through the cities and enter the rural provinces. If you build a COVID-proof wall around the cities, it is actually a wall around our entire country,” Austriaco said.

“We can build herd immunity in the 55 million Filipinos who live in our cities. That will go far in protecting the rest of the country,” Austriaco added.

The Philippines has 16.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine supply so far.

The Philippine government is eyeing to inoculate 58 million Filipinos in NCR Plus 8 areas. — BM, GMA News