Gov’t mulls over adjusting vaccination target to 80 percent

Vaccinated passengers observe physical distancing and show off their vaccination cards as they avail the free rides at the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 at Edsa- North Avenue Station starting August 3-August 20, until the end of enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila. (Photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Amid the threat of the more transmissible Delta variant of the novel coronavirus, the government is considering the option to raise its vaccination target from 70 percent to 80 percent, as the country received an additional donation of 3 million vaccine doses on Tuesday.

President Duterte led ceremonies at Villamor Air Base for the arrival of 3 million doses of the Moderna vaccine that the United States donated through the COVAX global vaccine pool. He earlier thanked Washington “for not forgetting us,” adding that “we share the same outlook in geopolitics here, in Southeast Asia.”

“That is why we had a give and take. Let us thank them because I gave them a concession,” Mr. Duterte also said. On Friday he recalled his termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement following his meeting with visiting US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

The National Vaccination Operations Center on Tuesday said it may include minors in its vaccine coverage as the government considers raising this coverage to 80 percent of the country’s nearly 110 million population.

“With the Delta variant, there is a looming proposal to increase our vaccine coverage to 80 percent, so that would mean we will include those below 18 years old,” Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, who heads that cluster of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, said in an online briefing.

But Cabotaje also said any target adjustments must be considered together with the country’s vaccine supply as well as the efficacy of the vaccines procured by the government.

She said the Department of Health (DOH) is awaiting the results of studies regarding the effects of vaccines on children, if they should be vaccinated.

“These questions will be answered in the next few months, with data coming in,” Cabotaje said.

She also raised the possibility of adolescents being inoculated together with the general population by September or October, as the country’s COVID-19 vaccine supply continues to increase.

In June, the Food and Drug Administration amended the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer vaccine, allowing its use on the 12 to 15 years old age group.

Cabotaje also said senior citizens can walk in vaccination sites even during the lockdown on Aug. 6 to 20. She said the police are “discerning enough” to know that seniors “are our highest priority because they are the most at risk” of exposure to the novel coronavirus and its variants.

The World Health Organization earlier expressed concern over the low number of the elderly being inoculated, calling it “unacceptable,” given the increasing supply of vaccine doses in the country.

Vaccine czar and NTF chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. expressed the same concern on Monday, but noted “some sort of hesitancy” among senior citizens to be inoculated.

In his press briefing, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque reminded the elderly that “the protection we could have if we still want to spend time with our grandchildren is to get vaccinated.”

—WITH A REPORT FROM LEILA B. SALAVERRIA INQ