A health worker in Ilocos Norte province administers a COVID-19 vaccine to a resident. (Photo courtesy of Ilocos Norte provincial government)
MANILA, Philippines — The country is already looking at administering one million COVID-19 vaccines per day, subject to supply availability, testing czar Vince Dizon said on Monday as a retort to Vice President Leni Robredo’s call to further step up its the government’s vaccination drive.
Dizon, who also sits as deputy chief implementer of the Philippines’ national task force against COVID-19 (NTF), made the comments during Malacañang’s briefing, after being asked about Robredo’s statements urging the government to hit 750,000 tests per day.
Last Wednesday, Robredo made several suggestions to the government to ensure that the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) over Metro Manila would be the last, such as intensifying testing and vaccination drives.
“Unang-una po no, mawalang galang lang po kay Vice President Leni pero in fact ang tingin po natin sa vaccine cluster sa pamumuno ni Secretary (Carlito) Galvez, ang ta-targetin po natin ay aabot na ng isang milyon,” Dizon said.
(First of all, if the Vice President Leni Robredo would excuse me, we at the vaccine cluster under Secretary Galvez’ leadership are already looking at targeting one million doses per day.)
“‘Yon ang target natin, it is more than the 750,000. No’ng nakaraang linggo po eh nag-high na po tayo ng 710,000, and ang panawagan po natin is lahat tayo sana magtulong-tulungan na lang para maabot natin itong mga target na ito, kasi gaya ng sinabi ni Spox (Harry) Roque, karera po talaga ito against the variant,” he added.
(That’s our target, it is more than the 750,000. Last week we were able to get the highest number of vaccines administered in a day at 710,000, and we are calling on everybody to just help each other to ensure that we reach this target. Because as spokesperson Roque said earlier, it is a race against the variants.)
Dizon clarified though that this is possible only if challenges within the supply chain are addressed, explaining that countries that are unable to produce their own anti-COVID-19 vaccines still scramble for available vials.
“But again ang pinakamalaking hamon pa rin natin ay supply, at ito ay hamon hindi lang ng Pilipinas, kundi hamon ng buong mundo, lalong-lalo na ‘yong mga bansang hindi nagmamanufacture ng sarili nilang bakuna katulad ng Pilipinas,” he added.
(But again the biggest challenge we are facing is the supply and this is an obstacle not only for the Philippines but for the whole world, especially for countries like the Philippines that do not manufacture their own vaccines.)
“Lahat po talaga tayo ay nahihirapan maghanap ng supply, pero kung tayo po ay may sapat na supply at makukuha po natin ang ating mga doses na pinangako ng ibang mga manufacturers sa iba’t ibang bansa, eh kakayanin po natin, ang tinatarget po natin is even much higher than the 750,000 — hanggang isang milyon kada araw basta may supply,” he noted.
(All of the countries are struggling to look for supply, but if we have ample supply and if we can get the doses promised by manufacturers from other countries, we can overcome this, we can target way higher than the 750,000 — may be up to around one million each day as long as there is a supply.)
Robredo said that the most important suggestion she made last Wednesday was ramping up vaccinations to 750,000 per day, aside from making around 120,000 tests per day. In comparison, current figures range from around 500,000 to 600,000 vaccinations per day and around 50,000 tests daily.
While new data has not been released, a presentation by the National Vaccination Operations Center before the House of Representatives last Wednesday showed that the average daily rate from July 28 to August 3 was only at 529,911 doses per day.
While vaccination rates were pulled down by the fact that fewer doses are being administered during the weekends, numbers only went past the 640,000-mark on July 29 (646,415), July 30 (648,383), and August 3 (673,652).
The government is banking on COVID-19 vaccines to usher in herd immunity before the end of the year, in an effort to kickstart the ailing economy, and also as a wall against the spread of the more contagious coronavirus variants. Vaccination became more urgent due to the looming threat of the dreaded COVID-19 Delta variant, which forced the national government to put Metro Manila and other provinces under an ECQ.
As of Monday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that 24,479,750 anti-COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered, of which 11,391,969 are second doses which also represents fully vaccinated individuals.