MANILA – Bacolod City is among the priority areas for the distribution of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine once it becomes available in the country, according to vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.
Galvez disclosed the government’s distribution method of the vaccines after the government started negotiations with three vaccine manufacturers, namely AstraZeneca, Sinovac, and Pfizer, for the county’s potential supply.
The government, he said, will roll out the vaccines geographically and then by sector.
“Meaning ‘yung deployment po ng vaccine, para doon sa infected at ‘yung mga tinatawag nating epicenter,” said Galvez in a report to President Rodrigo Duterte Monday night.
Bacolod had recorded 5,278 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic and of these, 259 were left active after posting 4,859 recoveries and 160 deaths.
The highly-urbanized city is also the second local government unit in Western Visayas having the most number of confirmed infections to date.
Other areas to be given priority are the National Capital Region, Cebu City, Davao City, as well as those having a high number of COVID-19 cases.
In these areas, sectors previously identified by President Rodrigo Duterte will be given priority – the poor, those who are vulnerable, the police, military as well as others who are considered as frontline workers.
Galvez, who is also the country’s chief implementer of the National Action Plan Against COVID-19, said the country could secure 60 million doses of the vaccines if the negotiations with the three vaccine manufacturers turn out to be successful.
“Just in case makuha po natin ‘yung tatlong ito, makakabuo po tayo ng 60 million next year, so ibig sabihin meron na po tayo na magandang mga vaccine na nakita natin na safe, cost effective at saka po… maganda ang kanilang performance,” Galvez said
He disclosed the government hopes to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with AstraZeneca before the end of the month.
The British company will be reserving 20 million doses for the Philippines.
According to Galvez, AstraZeneca is among those companies with the most affordable vaccine at around $5 per dose.
Once an MOU is signed, the vaccine from AstraZeneca, may be available around the second quarter of 2021.
“‘Yung AstraZeneca, handa po sila na kapag nag-rollout po ‘yung kanilang [vaccine] doon sa British government, pupunta po dito ‘yung mga military at saka ‘yung mga logistics personnel po nila para tulungan po tayo mag-roll out din dito,” he added.
The Department of Health earlier said first in the priority to receive the COVID-19 vaccine are frontline health workers, numbering over 1.7 million.
They are followed by indigent senior citizens (over 3.7 million), remaining senior citizens (over 5.6 million), remaining indigent population (nearly 13 million), and uniformed personnel (over half a million).
Officials project the first batch of COVID-19 vaccine to arrive in the country by the second quarter of 2021.
As of Monday, the novel coronavirus has so far sickened 420,614 people in the Philippines. The tally includes 8,173 deaths, 386,604 recoveries, and 25,837 active cases.
COVID-19 cases in PH have breached 420,000; daily tallies have ‘plateaued’ below 2,000 for two weeks now.
The new coronavirus is believed to have first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year./PN
