Galvez admits Odette, Eleksyon 2022 slowed down gov't vaccination efforts

While the government continues to ramp up its vaccination drive against COVID-19, National Task Force against COVID-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. enumerated several external factors that have resulted in the slowing down of its vaccination efforts.

Among the factors are the onslaught of Typhoon Odette (international name: Rai) in December last year, and the upcoming Eleksyon 2022, he said in a statement issued Saturday.

Galvez said the onslaught of Typhoon Odette in Visayas and Mindanao forced several local government units (LGUs) to temporarily suspend their vaccination rollout to respond to the immediate needs of those affected.

The upcoming national and local elections are also “diverting the attention” of some of the public officials from the vaccination drive, he added. Galvez thus asked them to focus first on the vaccination which he believes is the more important task.

“It is our hope that our local leaders will have the will to temporarily set aside their personal interests and first ensure the health and protection of their constituents, especially now that the country is experiencing another major surge,” he said.

Galvez made the statement after the World Bank’s Philippine office published a report on Wednesday saying that the “vaccination continued to lag regional peers” in the country.

“The slower vaccination and higher mobility during the holiday season are the likely causes why the Philippines is one of the first to experience an Omicron variant surge in the region, recording higher cases per capita than other Asean countries, as of Jan. 11,” the financial institution added.

Galvez said that despite the Philippines’ “slow start” due to limited vaccine supplies all over the world in 2021, its vaccination program gained momentum as vaccine shipments started to arrive in bulk in the third quarter of last year.

“The strategies it has implemented since March 2021 to carry out this massive and unprecedented vaccination rollout have proven to be effective not only in scaling up the vaccination capacities of our local government units, but also in increasing vaccine acceptance among our countrymen,” he said.

Galvez noted that the country was able to administer more than a million vaccine doses daily in November and December through the COVID-19 vaccination drive dubbed “Bayanihan, Bakunahan”.

Around 8 million individuals were inoculated against COVID-19 during the first leg on November 29 to December 1.

Meanwhile, over 2.3 million COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered during the second round on December 16 to 17, 2021, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

Other factors

Galvez added that there is the threat of the communist terrorist group (CTG) in certain areas of the country particularly in LGUs situated in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas.

“The CTG has been a major cause of concern among our LGUs whose inoculation efforts have been largely affected whenever there is an attack on communities,” he said. 

Galvez also said many of the Philippines’ neighbor countries do not share the same challenges as the Philippines with its unique geographical landscape being an archipelago of around 7,640 islands.

“[Delivering] the vaccines to far-flung communities can be a major logistical challenge, or being frequently hit by typhoons which leave behind a swath of destruction in their aftermath,” he added.

Galvez also pointed out that while the World Bank’s report that the increase in mobility among people during the holiday season may have largely contributed to the current surge in cases driven by the Omicron variant, was “true to a certain extent,” it was done to let the economy breathe.

“Surely the World Bank understands the need to create a balance between protecting the people’s health and breathing life into the nation’s economy. The country’s business sector could no longer be held hostage by the health crisis, and therefore the need to further open up the economy, while putting in place all the necessary health and safety precautions,” he said.

The whole country was placed under Alert Level 2 until the remainder of 2021, paving for establishments to operate up to 50% capacity for fully vaccinated attendees, while 70% is allowed outside.

Currently, the National Capital Region and at least 50 other areas are under Alert Level 3 until the end of January.

Galvez said that the Philippines already learned its lessons from previous surges such as the one caused by the Delta variant and the country's healthcare system is “now more prepared and better equipped to respond to such surges.”

Seven pharmacies and clinics in the NCR have been recently allowed by the government to administer primary doses and booster shots amid the COVID-19 surge in the country.

With this new program, Galvez said that the government is confident it will achieve its goal of fully inoculating 77 million Filipinos within the first quarter of 2022 and administering booster shots to more than 72 million Filipinos. —KG, GMA News