DAVAO CITY — The government will conduct immunization and vaccination drive in barangays as it focus on immunizing the unvaccinated population including school-aged children and providing booster shots to medical and economic frontliners this year.
Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez said to achieve these, the government will carry out mobile, barangay-to-barangay vaccinations, which Galvez said, were proven very effective. He cited a successful inoculation campaign in one barangay, which was able to vaccinate big number of people.
Galvez stressed one major goal is to achieve the remaining milestone of 77 million, 90 million, and then total population this year.
The government will target inoculating those who haven’t received COVID-19 jab, provide booster dose, and protect children in preparation for in-person classes.
Another goal of the government vaccination campaign is to ensure the safety of both the medical and economic frontliners, said Galvez, who is also the chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19.
“At ‘yun po ang nakikita namin na baka gawin po ni Secretary Año, gagawa rin po siya ng memorandum na magkakaroon na po ng barangay-to-barangay at saka ‘yung house-to-house vaccination site,” he told the President.
“Kasi kung ang gagawin po natin na doon sa malls — sa malls lang po ang vaccination site, minsan po hindi po makapunta ‘yung mga tao doon sa malls. So kailangan talaga ibaba po sa barangay ang ating mga vaccination site.”
To further protect vaccinated individuals, booster shots will be administered three months after the second dose. The three-month spacing has been approved by the Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and will be executed soon, according to Galvez.
In preparation for face-to-face classes, the government will vaccinate children aged five to 11 years, he said, adding Pfizer Inc. has already applied for an emergency use authorization (EUA) for this age group.
Government departments have also agreed that 15 million of the 20 million doses being procured from Pfizer will be allotted for children five to 11 years old.
Galvez said in his report that under the current state of vaccination, the country still has enough supply for 54-million target this year that includes allocation for minors and for booster doses.
Authorities have also scaled down procurements to 70 million doses from 90 million because of the huge volume donated by the COVAX vaccine-sharing platform.
Galvez said the COVAX facility donated more than 63.5 million doses, on top of the 10.2 million doses donated by the US government.
“Magdo-donate po sila (US) ng another 10 million Pfizer at dumating nga po kahapon at ngayon ‘yung initial na 3.4 million na Pfizer na tinanggap ko po. At ‘yung another more or less 6.8 darating po next year,” he told the President.
Other donations come from the country’s bilateral partners. These donors include the Netherlands, European Union, France, United Kingdom, Syria, Poland Germany, and China, Galvez said.
