MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte directed Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the country’s vaccine manager, on Monday to implement a “pro rata,” or proportional, distribution of vaccines outside Metro Manila as he claimed that the “bulk” of residents in the capital region already had vaccines.
During his address to the people, Duterte said that, while the country did not have excess COVID-19 vaccine doses, they had started to arrive in bulk.
“I am directing Secretary Galvez to make a distribution — somewhat like pro-rata. Not all [doses], but give others starting with Iloilo, Zamboanga, Cagayan, Butuan. So that everyone will have some,” Duterte said, speaking partly in Filipino.
“Let’s share these. Anyway, the bulk of the people of the NCR already have vaccines. When the next big batch arrives, you divide it among the local government units. I hope this could be done as soon as possible,” he added.
On May 28, the Department of Health reported that nearly 4.7 million individuals have so far been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Health Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire said that, while the country was averaging around 170,000 jabs administered per day, the target was to reach 500,000 jabs per day to have about 50 million individuals vaccinated by the end of the year.