Presidential Adviser on Peace Process and National Task Force against Coronavirus Disease-2019 (NTF COVID-19) chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. gives updates to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte during a meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) core members at the Arcadia Active Lifestyle Center in Matina, Davao City on January 25, 2021. KARL ALONZO/ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. has assured that Mindanao will not be left behind and will receive COVID-19 vaccines “immediately” once more supplies arrive in the Philippines.
Galvez made the assurance after Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez lamented how Galvez and officials of the COVID-19 task force were supposedly neglecting the coronavirus situation in Mindanao.
“The National Task Force against COVID-19 would like to assure our honorable members of the Congress that we will not neglect the regions, especially those in Mindanao, in our vaccine deployment,” Galvez said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Following President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive to deploy more vaccines to the regions, we will immediately send more vaccines in Mindanao as soon as the rest of the deliveries arrive this month,” he added.
As of June 14, the National Task Force against COVID-19 said some 1.7 million doses of vaccines have been delivered to Mindanao.
Overall, the Philippines so far received 12 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, with six million more expected to arrive this month.
“I offer my sincerest condolences to the families of those who have lost their loved ones to this deadly disease. Mindanao is close to my heart, as I was stationed there for many years as a soldier,” Galvez said.
“We are getting more vaccines there very soon, and Mindanao will not be left behind. This is my promise to all Mindanaoans,” he added.
In a House meeting on Mindanao affairs, Rodriquez said many of his constituents would not have succumbed to COVID-19 if the national government immediately responded to their requests for an increase in vaccine supply.
Galvez was not present in the said meeting and was represented by Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Undersecretary Isidro Purisima who apologized and likewise assured that more vaccines are forthcoming.