REUTERS/Molly Darlington/ file photo
MANILA, Philippines — The vaccination of individuals in the A4 sector / group of the government’s COVID-19 vaccination program may start between the middle of May to June, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Monday.
Nograles, who co-chairs the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, explained this is the time when the government expects more COVID-19 vaccines to arrive in the country.
“Siguro mga mid-May up to June, doon na po magkakaroon ng bulk ng ating vaccine na ineexpect for quarter 2 then for quarter 3, obviously, mas marami pang bakuna ang makukuha natin so probably mga mid-May to June, pupuwede na po yung A4,” Nograles said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel.
(Maybe by mid-May to June, we will receive the bulk of our vaccines we expect for the second quarter then for the third quarter, obviously more vaccines will come. So probably, by mid-May to June, we can start with A4.)
Persons in the A4 group or those in fourth priority under the vaccination program include transportation workers, market vendors, religious leaders and overseas Filipino workers.
LIST: Additional sectors eligible to get COVID-19 vaccine
The A4 group is next in line for the COVID-19 vaccine after health workers (A1), senior citizens (A2) and persons with comorbidities (A3).
For the month of April, the government is still expecting a total of 1.5 million doses of vaccines developed by China’s Sinovac BioTech and 500,000 doses of Spuntik V developed by Russia’s Gamaleya Institute.