Fiscal System for Block A Offshore
POOR infrastructure and the lack of cold storage facilities in the countryside will slow down the Philippines’ vaccination programme to inoculate the entire population, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on February 23.
Citing earlier projections from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the ADB said in a report that it would take the Philippines up to the fourth quarter of 2023 to finish vaccinating the rest of its population after prioritising vulnerable groups.
Compared to other ASEAN countries, vaccination rollout in the Philippines would lag behind Singapore’s plan to finish inoculation by the fourth quarter of this year, Vietnam’s by the second quarter of next year, Brunei and Thailand in the third quarter of 2022, Malaysia in the second quarter of 2023 and Indonesia by the third quarter of 2023.
The Philippines’ timetable to vaccinate the entire population is the same as in Bangladesh, Nepal, Samoa and Tonga.
Poorer Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and East Timor may take up to 2024 or beyond to vaccinate all of their respective populations.
The ADB brief titled “Getting Ready for the COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout” read: “In the Philippines, it is difficult to access rural and remote communities due to unpredictable weather, security concerns and poor infrastructure.
“Inadequate provision of transportation has seen healthcare workers resort to hiring private motorcycles and pump boats to deliver and administer vaccines.
“Refrigerators in health centres in rural areas are subject to intermittent power supply with no backup power source.
Vaccine wastage also occurs owing to a lack of skilled personnel.”
Citing 2020 data by logistics firm DHL, the ADB said cold-chain logistics in the Philippines scored four out of five as the highest score in terms of preparedness for facilities that required conventional temperature requirements or about 2-8 degrees Celsius, which AstraZeneca vaccines, for instance, needed as storage temperature.
But in case vaccines needed stringent temperature requirements of as low as minus 80C, cold-chain facilities in the Philippines scored only two out of five. Pfizer vaccines, in particular, needed to be stored at as low as minus 70C.
In an earlier report, the ADB said the Philippines faced constraints in vaccine financing as “the government estimates that 82.5 billion pesos [$1.70 billion] will be required to provide vaccines to approximately 55 per cent of the country’s population – still short of its plan to vaccinate all Filipinos by 2023”.
Citing the vaccine allocation plan prepared by the Department of Health, the ADB had said the Philippine government targeted to vaccinate 25.35 million Filipinos in 2021, 44.63 million in 2022, and 41.77 million in 2023, since by that time the Philippines would have a total population of 112.89 million.
ACROSS
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Pallid
Less covered
Toward the stern
St. Louis-to-Cincinnati dir. Napoleon, on Elba
Astronomical flare-ups
Popular ’20s song
Symphonic finishes
Man of many marches
Karenina of fiction
Jazz styles
It’s often iced in summer
New York ballplayer
Watergate figure Sam
Feels under the weather
Oil-well firefighter Red
What software may be stored on They move during pedaling Showing signs of age
“West Side Story” girl
AARP part (Abbr.)
Armor plate
Drinking spree
Bobby, the legendary Bruin
Nile waders 48 49 51 52 57 58 59 60 61 62 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 18 19 23
Sci-fi writer’s award TV trophies
Author H. ___ Haggard How encores are given Pageant entrant’s asset Dik-dik relative
Groom’s guarantee Work on the runway Lengthy narratives
Has the wherewithal
DOWN
Online film maker
“Tennis, ___?”
Should not have to High-ranking Turks
Slasher film weapon
Eve’s genesis
Certain addition
Motive
Elephant goad
Short hairdos
Earhart’s field
War film “A Bridge Too ___” Lou Grant’s anchorman Sheep’s plaint
Patrolman
Knee protector 24 25 27 28 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 41 42 43 44 46 47 48 50 51 52 53 54 55 56
Word with “eye” or “temper” Galleys with two banks of oars Colonnade trees
Zebra kin
Tranquil scene
Solo for Sills
Kind of rain or test
Funny Rock
Roast stand
Tap output
Fearless
Hamster’s home
Hit-show letters
Paths between pews
Like bar mitzvahs
Sometimes they’re hidden Flash of comics
Urge
Provo campus
Self starter?
Jazzman Allison
Some wines
Heart-rate abbr.
“___-hoo!”
A near-Miss. state
Cleaning cloth
Evidence in a paternity case