NCR gets biggest chunk of CoronaVac supply
The government is allocating a huge portion of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines to the National Capital Region (NCR), which is considered the epicenter of the pandemic in the country.
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., vaccine czar and chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, said NCR has an eligible population of 130,742 which means that an equal number of CoronaVac vaccine doses from China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd. will be given to its hospitals.
“So nakita po natin sa NCR, considering na iyong NCR mayroon tayong 17 highly urbanized na cities, mayroon po tayo na 130,000 (Considering that we have 17 highly-urbanized cities in NCR, we have 130,000 here),” Galvez told President Duterte during the weekly Cabinet briefing Monday night, March 1.
The second region with the highest allocation is Central Visayas (Region 7) with an eligible population of 13,923 and nine COVID-referral hospitals, followed by Central Luzon (Region 3) with an eligible population of 11,537 and five COVID-referral hospitals.
Below is the breakdown of the eligible populations of all 17 regions in the country:
National Capital Region (NCR) - 130,742
Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) - 3,279
Ilocos (Region 1) - 7,092 Cagayan Valley (Region 2) - 4,994 plus Philippine General Hospital
Central Luzon (Region 3) - 11,537
Calabarzon (Region 4A) - 1,115 Mimaropa (Region 4B) - 1,562 Bicol (Region 5) - 5,191 Western Visayas (Region 6) - 8,438
Central Visayas (Region 7) - 13,923
Eastern Visayas (Region 8) - 3,935
Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9) - 3,417
Northern Mindanao (Region 10) - 7,239
Davao Region (Region 11) - 8,004
Soccsksargen (Region 12) - 8,705
Caraga (Region 13) - 3,044 Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) - 940 Increase in allocation Based on Galvez’ presentation, Luzon has an eligible population of 164,668 to get the vaccines, the entire Visayas 26,296, and Mindanao 24,642.
Galvez explained that the allocations were obtained after government authorities, led by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, met top officials of medical institutions in the country during a series of town hall meetings. He said the meetings were conducted to determine how many doses of vaccines each region wanted once they become available.
Initially, Galvez said only 13 to 28 percent of hospital officials preferred the Sinovac vaccine. But after the vaccine rollout last Monday, more doctors have contacted him to ask for a supply of Sinovac vaccine.
“I expect that the allocations will increase since some of the hospital officials are already calling me to secure a supply,” he said.
The vaccine czar said that the allocation in Visayas and Mindanao will be increased due to the rising number of active cases there.
Around 75,000 doses will be used as a reserve supply which can be readily deployed in areas that will need them.