MANILA – The Philippines is likely to start inoculating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine to the public by May next year, newly-named COVID-19 vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said.
In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel on Thursday, Galvez noted that the government is looking to place an advance procurement of about 24 million vaccines within the first quarter of next year.
“If everything will go well, ang mangyayari po earliest is May,” Galvez said. “Should there be roadblocks on supply and demand, the earliest that the program may begin is by the end of 2021.”
According to Galvez, the rollout of the vaccine will rely primarily on its financing, development and approval, in which frontliners, indigents and the vulnerable sectors are top priorities.
“Ang vaccine roadmap po natin is three to five years. Posible din that you will look at the demand and supply ng vaccine. Before end of 2020, ang presentation sa atin ng World Bank, more or less, 1.4 billion lang ang mapo-produce ng vaccines,” Galvez said.
“Sa ngayon, ang demand ng big countries ay more than that. Talagang magkakahirapan tayo sa demand and supply kaya we’re appealing to the WHO (World Health Organization) na bigyan ng equitable access,” he added.
Meanwhile, Galvez also said that he will form a team of representatives from government agencies and the private sector who will be in charge of the assessment, planning and execution of the country’s vaccination program./PN
