Calabarzon to get lion's share of COVID-19 vaccines towards end of 2021, says Palace

Calabarzon will receive the lion's share of the Philippines' COVID-19 vaccine doses in the fourth quarter, President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman said on Thursday.

Harry Roque Jr. made the remark after Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla expressed frustration over the continued shortage of vaccines from the national government in his province.

Roque said Calabarzon, including Cavite, will receive in September 3,814,000 doses. In the fourth quarter, Roque said the Southern Tagalog region will receive the biggest allocation at 17,475,388 jabs.

Calabarzon includes Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon provinces.

"So you can see that in the last quarter, they will have 20 million doses good for 10 million," Roque said.

Remulla said Cavite needed six million COVID-19 vaccine doses to reach herd immunity or to fully vaccinate 70% of the province's population.

He lamented that Cavite only received 4,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine a day, a far cry from its capacity to inoculate 60,000 daily.

Roque said the shift to prioritize Calabarzon was because 50% of Metro Manila residents have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

"Metro Manila will have lesser allocation by September, it will be just at one million doses then four million doses for the rest of the year," Roque said

Central Luzon, for its part, will get 17 million doses of COVID-19 doses from
September to December.

The government is eyeing to vaccinate 76.3 million Filipinos or 70% of the population by the end of the year to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19.

But Dr. Lulu Bravo, who is also a Professor of Pediatric Infectious and Tropical Diseases at the College of Medicine in University of the Philippines Manila, also said Thursday that the Philippines should target 80% to 90% of the population by the end of the year to achieve herd immunity.

Only 13 million Filipinos have so fully vaccinated against COVID-19 so far. —NB, GMA News