MMDA chief proposes ‘express lane’ for vaccine priority groups

Vaccination site at Smart Araneta

MANILA, Philippines — Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Benhur Abalos on Wednesday proposed the creation of an express lane for COVID-19 vaccination that would cater to the A1 to A3 priority groups while the government proceeds with the vaccination essential workers who belong to the A4.

“There is one thing we could do. What we could do is to have an express lane, para ‘yung mga naiiwan (so that those not yet vaccinated), let’s say you are a senior citizen, a person with comorbidity, meron kang (you have an) express lane and then you open now the A4,” Abalos told ABS-CBN News Channel on Wednesday.

A1 is the priority group for medical frontliners while A2 is for senior citizens, and A3 is for persons with comorbidity. The A4 group, on the other hand, are the essential workers.

Abalos noted that once more vaccines arrive in Metro Manila, the problem would now be how to use up all the doses before they expire.

He said local government units in the capital region should be able to vaccinate at least 120,000 individuals per day, a figure that he said is “very, very much achievable.”

“I do believe, if everyone will be united, this is achievable,” he also said.

The government aims for Metro Manila and nearby provinces to achieve herd immunity by November, said vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr.

Latest data from the National Task Force against COVID-19 showed that the country has so far administered 4.3 million doses of anti-coronavirus shots. Of this number, 986,929 individuals have received their second dose.

EDV