Imee: Philippines ‘definitely’ won’t reach target 70M vaccinations by year-end

Senator Imee Marcos does not believe that the Philippines will achieve its target of 70 million vaccinations by the end of the year, saying that it would even be fortunate to have 2 to 3 million vaccinations by that time.

Marcos was reacting to vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.'s statements that  the government aims to inoculate 70 million Filipinos before the year closes.

"No, definitely hindi [not]," Marcos told ANC on Tuesday.

"Dahil kapag binalangkas at sinuri mo nang maigi yung sinasabi niya, maswerte na tayo sa 2 to 3 million by the end of the year," she added.

(Because if you consider what he [Galvez] said, we would be lucky to even have two to three million vaccinations by the end of the year.)

Galvez said the government’s goal of inoculating 50 to 70 million Filipinos this year is still achievable even though the vaccination program had been off to a slow start.

The 1,125,600 doses that have arrived in the country so far have been reserved for health workers, the top priority in the government’s vaccination campaign.

But Marcos believes that Galvez's targets may not be possible as "the vaccines are not arriving."

"Not entirely their fault because there's a real shortage worldwide. But it's not helping," she said.

She reiterated that the best way to address the pandemic is not by imposing even more restrictions, but going back to "thorough testing, serious contact tracing, and vaccination."

Marcos likewise took a swipe at the new names being given by the government to quarantine restrictions, particularly the so-called "NCR plus bubble," which refers to Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Laguna, and Cavite.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases has endorsed the implementation of the new regulations on these areas from March 22 to April 4 amid the surge of COVID-19 cases, including the ban of non-essential travel into and from this region.

"It would be comical if it weren't so tragic. Really, papalit-palit lang ng pangalan e. Parang nakakatawa na. Effectively this is a lockdown. You know that, everyone knows that. Huwag naman natin niloloko ang tao," Marcos said.

(It would be comical if it weren't so tragic. Really, they are just changing names. It's already getting funny. Effectively this is a lockdown. You know that, everyone knows that. Let's not fool the public.)

"Kasi kung ano na lang fancy names e. NCR Plus. NCR Pro, NCR Pro Max. Tapos yung mga circuit breaker, soft and hard MECQ, nakakatawa na e. Ano bang ibig sabihin nito?" she added, seemingly making wordplays on iPhone models.

(They're just making up fancy names. NCR Plus. NCR Pro, NCR Pro Max. And then the circuit breaker, soft and hard MECQ, it's funny. What do these even mean?)

For his part, Senator Francis Pangilinan echoed Marcos's statement and said that unless there is testing, contact tracing, and isolation, and the vaccination rollout is fast-tracked, the public will just move from one lockdown to another.

"Siguro nga, babagal nang bahagya pero hanggang walang maayos na mass testing, contact tracing, isolation, at ang mabilis na vaccine roll-out, parang kulelat pa rin tayo sa pagsugpo ng COVID. Malamang mag-c-close-open lang ang NCR plus," he said in a separate statement.

(Perhaps maybe, the spread of COVID-19 will slow down but without proper mass testing, contact tracing, isolation, and quick vaccine rollout, we will still lose in the fight against COVID. Maybe the NCR plus will just close then open.)

On Tuesday, the Philippines' tally of active COVID-19 cases hit 86,200, this year’s highest, after 5,867 new infections are recorded. — BM, GMA News