The government’s Covid-19 vaccination task force has now set a new target of at least 25 million Filipinos vaccinated by Christmas , however, despite the lower number experts say it still seems beyond reach with the current slow pace of the rollout.
AS local government officials bemoan the slow roll-out of Covid-19 vaccine, the national government has downgraded its expectations.
From its target of 70 million of the total population by November, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. has set a new goal: 25 million people vaccinated against Covid-19 by Christmas.
Why the downgrade?
“Our strategy is to achieve the 25 million, the most vulnerable. According to WHO (World Health Organization), this is what we call burden of disease, burden of death and burden of hospitalization,” Galvez said last May 10.
“If we (vaccinate) them, we can contain death and the fatalities. We have low and high targets, wherein once we achieve the 25 million, at least we will have what is called the initial herd containment,” he added.
This was a letdown from the original expectations of the national government of 70 million people vaccinated by November.
The government’s high target for herd containment is inoculating 50 million people by September, according to Galvez’s report.
For herd immunity, the low target is vaccinating 58 million people.
Herd immunity was defined by the WHO as indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune through vaccination.
If everything goes on schedule, the Covid-19 pandemic will be over “by the second quarter” of 2022.
As of May 10, more than 2.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered while 1.9 million individuals have been inoculated.
Health experts and local officials have urged Galvez’s team to speed up the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines the first cases of the Indian variant – which is reportedly more contagious and deadlier – have been confirmed in the Philippines. (ONT)
Tags: #Covid19, #Covid19vaccines, #herdimmunity, #CarlitoGalvezJr