P45B extra vax budget okayed
The government assured the public on Saturday that it has enough funds for the Covid-19 vaccination of Filipinos until next year amid fears of another
possible surge in infections due to the Delta variant.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the administration has earmarked an additional P45 billion for the purchase of anti-coronavirus jabs in 2022.
“We have in the budget already P45 billion for additional vaccination. Just to assure you and our community, we do have the money for that,” Dominguez said in a televised meeting of President Rodrigo Duterte and other members of the pandemic task force.
“We are good until 2022. It’s not going to be easy, but because of the moves you have made from 2016 to 2019, we are ready to handle this problem financially,” he added.
The Philippines is expecting the delivery of an additional 141 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines until the end of the year, aside from the 30 million doses the government has received, Dominguez said.
The government’s vaccination program proved to be crucial in blunting a possible surge in coronavirus infections following the detection of the highly transmissible Covid-19 Delta variant in the Philippines.
Possible surge
Health experts have been saying that anti-coronavirus jabs are 100 percent effective against severe Covid-19 and hospitalization.
Earlier in the day, the Department of Health (DoH) announced the discovery of 17 new carriers of the Delta variant, raising the nationwide tally to 64 and triggering fears that the virus type may lead to a dramatic increase in cases.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the department has been increasing the number of beds, medicines, and mechanical ventilators allocated for Covid-19 patients in preparation for a possible surge.
Modular tents in hospitals have also been set up by authorities to accommodate more Covid-19 patients.
“We have prepositioned Covid-19 beds in our hospitals and we have also made an inventory of medicines to take note of what is needed,” Vergeire said in a televised briefing.
“We have also provided additional mechanical ventilators to hospitals. Currently, we are looking into additional funds so we can procure more,” she added.
The DoH, Vergeire said, has been intensifying its efforts to curb coronavirus transmission, referring to “active case finding, aggressive contact tracing, increased risk-based and targeted testing, and the immediate isolation or quarantine of suspect or probable cases and their close contacts.”
She also called on local officials to strengthen their respective efforts related to the pandemic response.
Over 5.5 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, while 10.8 million individuals were waiting to receive their second shots.
“Despite the inclement weather, our implementing units have remained resilient and are committed to inoculating more Filipinos. We are grateful to all frontliners in the government and the private sector who continue to serve the public despite the many challenges we continue to face,” vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said.
The DoH, meanwhile, advised the public to adhere to the minimum public health standards and to get vaccinated against Covid-19 to protect themselves from the Delta variant.
The pandemic task force has recently placed the Metro Manila and other Luzon areas under stricter general community quarantine measures for a week to curb the virus spread.
Of the 17 new carriers of the Delta variant, 12 were considered “local cases” or individuals without history of traveling abroad.
On the other hand, an individual was a returning overseas Filipino and the remaining four were still being verified, the DoH added.
Nine of the 12 Filipinos infected with the Delta variant were from Metro Manila, while three were from Calabarzon.
Only three of them remained sick, while 14 have so far recovered from Covid-19, the DoH said.
The detection of 17 new Delta variant carriers came days after the DoH confirmed local transmission of the highly contagious virus type.
Meanwhile, the DoH also reported the detection of 11 new cases of the Alpha variant, 13 more cases of Beta, and two additional cases of homegrown P.3, based on the latest batch of whole-genome sequencing conducted by the Philippine Genome Center.
The new cases raised the total Alpha variant cases in the country to 1,679, Beta variant cases to 1,840, and P.3 variant cases to 235.
The DoH said it will include the samples taken from seafarers of M/V Tug Clyde and Barge Claudia in the next batch of whole-genome sequencing.
The Duterte administration has been fearing that the emergence of more transmissible variants would drive a fresh surge in infections, just like in other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
The pandemic task force has recently placed the Metro Manila and other Luzon areas under stricter general community quarantine measures for a week to curb the virus spread.