Vaccination for B and C categories depends on supply in July — DOH

Public school teachers receive sinovac jab during COVID-19 vaccination efforts of the City Government of Manila last April 13, 2021 at the Palacio de Maynila, Roxas Boulevard. INQUIRER/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — The schedule for the start of COVID-19 vaccination of citizens under the B and C categories may be known in July when the government would have determined vaccine supply stability in the country, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire noted that the schedules for the vaccination of different priority sectors depend on the supply of vaccines.

“As to expanding to the sectors B and C, malalaman natin ‘yan sa paglipas ng panahon. Maybe in July we can see how stable our supplies are and we can already determine kung puwede na natin ding umpisahan sila kasabay ng ibang sektor na ginagawa na natin ngayon,” Vergeire said in an online press briefing.

(As to expanding to sectors B and C, we will know that as time comes. Maybe in July we can see how stable our supplies are and we can already determine if we can begin vaccinating them along with the sectors we are prioritizing now.)

The B category for vaccination is composed of social workers, teachers, and other members of the workforce not included in the A4 priority group, while the C category is composed of the rest of the population.

A1 refers to the medical health workers and frontliners. Senior citizens are classified under the A2 category, while people with comorbidity are under the A3 group.

“While we begin to open up our vaccination to the A4 priority group, it is important that we continue to cover as many A2 and A3 kasi sila rin po ang mga taong vulnerable at highest risk of getting severe COVID-19, or being hospitalized or dying,” Vergeire said.

(While we begin to open up our vaccination to the A4 priority group, it is important that we continue to cover as many A2 and A3 because they are the groups who are vulnerable and have the highest risk of getting severe COVID-19, or being hospitalized or dying.)

At least 10 million doses of Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Sputnik V vaccines are set to arrive in the country within the month, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. earlier said.

According to DOH, a total of 5,965,651 vaccine doses have been administered so far in the country, with 1,544,332 citizens fully vaccinated as of June 6. — Faith Yuen Wei Ragasa, Inquirer trainee

EDV