QUEZON CITY, (PIA) -- Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF), on Wednesday assured the public that the government is not holding up the supply of vaccines allotted for the private sector, as opposed to some claims posted online. 

Galvez said this accusation is "disconcerting" given that it is the initiative of the government, which paved way for the private sector to be given additional allocation owing to the strong bilateral ties of the Philippines with the United States. 

He sought to clarify that at present, the country has secured a total of 20 million doses of Moderna vaccines and 13 million of which were government-procured while the remaining 7 million doses were purchased by diverse companies, pooled via International Container Terminal Services, Inc (ICTSI). 

The initial tranche with 249,600 vaccine supplies delivered in the previous month was originally part of the 13 million doses intended for the rollout of the national government, he explained, in view of its supply agreement with Moderna which was earlier signed prior to the subsequent action of the private sector to sign the similar deal. 

However, the national government recognized the precedence of inoculating the economic frontliners of the essential sectors and opted to apportion the initial 49, 600 doses and 50, 000 more for a total of 99,600 doses from the first shipment to the private sector whose supplies are tentatively scheduled to arrive by the third quarter of this year. 

“Augmenting the private sector’s vaccine supply would enable us to scale up our national vaccination throughput, as many of our private sector partners have already set up their respective mega vaccination hubs ready for activation,” Galvez detailed in the statement. 

In addition, the national government has concurrently expanded the eligibility of the A4 priority group to broaden the opportunity of workers from the public, private, and even informal sectors to get vaccinated as early as the opening of the vaccination program for this sector last June 7 towards further expediting the vaccine rollout in the country. 

To date, the number of administered inoculations among essential workers brings to more than one million through deploying the vaccine supply from the national government while utilizing the vaccination facilities provided by the private sector which Galvez referred to as ‘the beauty of collaboration and cooperation’ that ought to continue until the supply for this sector becomes  steady. 

In terms of the insufficiency of vaccine supply, the vaccine czar emphasized that the shipments will be delivered in tranches and various factors such as production and logistics could affect its arrival schedules. With the said limitation that the private sector confronts, the government urged the ICTSI and establishments’ representatives to prioritize the inoculation of personnel who belong to medical frontliners, senior citizens, and persons with comorbidities. 

“We at the NTF are committed to fast track the deployment and administration of the vaccines procured by the national government, the local government units, and the private sector to ensure that we will be able to realize our goal of achieving population protection within this year and have a better Christmas,” he concluded. 

Posting of ads in vaccination sites discouraged 

The NTF recognizes the coordinated efforts of individuals and groups who are one with the government’s implementation of the National Vaccination Program except the need to post political ads in vaccination sites for this gesture may be misinterpreted as a form of 'political agenda to further personal interest’ by the general Filipino public. 

Galvez emphasized that the vaccination centers, whether those established by the national government, local government units, or the private sector, should only be utilized to provide for the administration of inoculations and not for the personal gains of politicians. 

“We would like to emphasize that no individual or organization can take credit for the National Vaccination Program because it is the product of a whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach,” the Chief Implementer said in a separate statement. 

In order to stop the prevalence of the said activity, the NTF is currently cooperating with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to look into reported instances of using vaccination sites in the promotion of political objectives following its outlying aim from the central prospect of the inoculation program. 

“This program should not be politicized in any way because its main objectives are to protect our people against the disease, save lives, and bring a greater sense of normalcy to our people as we revive our economy,” Galvez added. 

Instead, the vaccine czar has encouraged the political groups to allocate their time, energy, and resources to further lessen vaccine hesitancy by convincing the Filipino public to get the anti-COVID jab. (PIA-NCR with reports from OJT Janna Pineda)