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Philippines eyes COVID-19 vaccination of general public in August or September

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Jamaine Punzalan, ABS-CBN News 

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/news/04/29/20210426-covid-vaccinaton-san-juan-md-8675.jpg?ext=.jpg"/><figcaption>Second-dose vaccinations of Sinovac for senior citizens and people with comorbidities continue in San Juan City on April 26, 2021, as new stock of vaccines arrive in the country. <em>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA <strong>(UPDATE)</strong> - The Philippines might start the COVID-19 vaccination of people outside its priority groups by August or September, an official leading the drive said on Thursday. </p><p>The country will receive about 20 to 25 million COVID-19 shots between June and July, which will be enough for almost all priority groups, said vaccine &quot;czar&quot; Carlito Galvez Jr. </p><p>&quot;Iyong ating tinatawag na other target adult population o &#x27;yong general populace, baka mag-start po tayo [ng pagbabakuna] nang August o September,&quot; he said in a press briefing. </p><p>(We might start the vaccination by August or September of what we call the other target adult population or general population.)<br/> <br/>The vaccination drive currently covers the top 3 priority groups, including health workers, the elderly, and people with health risks. </p><p>The fourth and fifth priority groups - economic frontliners and indigents - will start getting vaccines in June, said Galvez, who is also chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19. </p><p>The Philippines has so far received 4.025 million COVID-19 shots, about 1.8 million of which have been administered, he said. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/29/21/500000-sinovac-doses-arrive-in-the-philippines">500,000 Sinovac doses arrive in the Philippines</a></li></ul><p>&quot;Pipilitin po natin na &#x27;yong 2 million marker, matapos po natin ngayong buwan,&quot; Galvez said. </p><p>(We will strive to cross the 2 million marker this month.) </p><div><strong>140 MILLION DOSES FOR 2021</strong></div><p>In May, the government expects to take delivery of about 4 million vaccine doses, including batches from Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech, Britain&#x27;s AstraZeneca, and Russia&#x27;s Gamaleya Institute, he said. </p><p>For within the year, the country expects to receive around 140 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, excluding those coming from the World Health Organization’s COVAX facility, which are scheduled to arrive in the country not later than June.</p><p>Galvez said out of the 44 million doses coming from COVAX, 33 million doses are donations while the government paid $100-million for the remaining 11 million doses.</p><p>The country’s vaccination rate could increase from 500,000 to 1 million per week in May, and rise to around 2 to 3 million per week by July or August depending on the actual number of doses delivered to the country, he added.</p><p>Among the hardest hit by the pandemic in Asia, the Philippines aims to vaccinate up to 70 million people or two-thirds of its population this year. </p><p>The country&#x27;s vaccination driver began March 1, a day after receiving its first supply of the shots.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/28/21/philippines-covid19-cases-update-april282021">COVID-19 deaths in Philippines top 17,000</a></li></ul><div><strong>&#x27;LAYERS OF CONTINGENCIES&#x27;</strong></div><p>Meanwhile, Galvez said that the government had put in place “layers of contingencies” in case the second doses of AstraZeneca vaccines do not arrive in the country on time.</p><p>Around 500,000 AstraZeneca doses were scheduled to be delivered to the Philippines in early March but was postponed due to supply issues confronting the UN health agency.</p><p>The government is now considering several options which include sourcing the vaccines from either Israel, the United States or the United Kingdom, which reportedly have excess supplies, Galvez said.</p><p>He said the members of the NTF’s vaccine cluster were set to meet with US Embassy officials in Manila to discuss the possibility of procuring the country’s excess AstraZeneca doses.</p><p>In the meantime Galvez clarified that the postponed delivery of 15,000 doses of Gamaleya’s Sputnik V vaccines on April 28 were largely due to “logistical challenges.”</p><p>He said that negotiations were ongoing for the 10 million doses the government intends to purchase from Gamaleya, in which the vaccines will be delivered in tranches within a period of 4 months.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1674283	" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><div class="infogram-embed" data-id="_/yFVE69R1WlSdqY3aCsBF" data-title="COVID-19 VACCINE TRACKER PH" data-type="interactive"> </div><div><script type="text/javascript">!function(e,i,n,s){var t='InfogramEmbeds',d=e.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];if(window[t]&&window[t].initialized)window[t].process&&window[t].process();else if(!e.getElementById(n)){var o=e.createElement('script');o.async=1,o.id=n,o.src='https://e.infogram.com/js/dist/embed-loader-min.js',d.parentNode.insertBefore(o,d)}}(document,0,'infogram-async');</script></div>

<p>The Philippines might start the COVID-19 vaccination of people outside its priority groups by August or September, an official leading the drive said on Thursday. </p>

The Philippines might start the COVID-19 vaccination of people outside its priority groups by August or September, an official leading the drive said on Thursday.

Philippines eyes COVID-19 vaccination of general public in August or September

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Philippines eyes COVID-19 vaccination of general public in August or September

Jamaine Punzalan,

ABS-CBN News

Published Apr 29, 2021 03:16 PM PHT

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Updated Apr 30, 2021 07:46 AM PHT

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