Gov’t has to vaccinate 6M in NCR to lower cases by yearend — OCTA fellow

A man is being vaccinated against COVID-19 at Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center in Manila City. Photo from the Office of Mayor Isko Moreno

MANILA, Philippines — The government will have to vaccinate half or six million of Metro Manila’s 12 million population before a substantial effect in the number of COVID-19 infections is seen hopefully by the end of this year, a fellow of the OCTA Research team said Monday.

Citing data from countries like Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States, OCTA fellow Fr. Nicanor Austriaco said at least 45 percent to 50 percent of the population must be vaccinated to see its impact on the COVID-19 numbers.

Austriaco, a Catholic priest from the University of Sto. Tomas, is a Filipino-American molecular biologist.

“Here in the NCR [National Capital Region], we would have to vaccinate about six million people of our 12 million people here before we see a substantial effect on the number of cases,” Austriaco said in a televised briefing.

If the government’s vaccine strategy and vaccine campaign work, Austriaco said “we hopefully will begin to see this [effect] probably in the third or fourth quarter of this year.”

In the entire Philippines, the government has so far administered 2,065,235 COVID-19 vaccines as of May 4.

Over 320,000 have completed their two doses of vaccines while 1.7 million have received their first dose.

EDV