Vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 are seen in this file photo. AFP file photo
MANILA, Philippines — Sixty-nine percent of the over 193,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines were allocated to Metro Manila, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.
“We have a total of 69 percent of the 193,000 Pfizer vaccines allocated here in the National Capital Region. Among those LGUs with the highest allocations across the local governments would be Pasig, Marikina, Quezon City, Mandaluyong, and San Juan,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online press briefing.
According to Vergeire, the Pfizer vaccines were allocated based on the local government units’ capacity to store the product.
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje earlier said that 128,700 doses, or 66 percent of all Pfizer 193,050 doses, will be given to Metro Manila.
Meanwhile, 29,250 doses each will be allocated to Cebu and Davao, 1,170 will be allotted to Quirino Province, and the remaining 4,680 will belong to the buffer stock.
Meanwhile, Vergeire also explained that some large LGUs in Metro Manila, including the City of Manila, received a lower allocation of Pfizer vaccines since they were earlier given doses of Russian-made Sputnik V.
“We want to equally allocate itong mga iba’t ibang klase ng bakuna sa iba’t ibang bahagi ng ating local governments here in Metro Manila,” she said.
(We want to equally allocate these different types of vaccine in different local governments here in Metro Manila.)
Data from the National Task Force against COVID-19 as of May 11 showed that the country has administered over 2.5 million vaccine doses out of the 7.7 million available doses.