Gov’t eyes 120K Covid-19 vax shots daily in NCR plus by June

MANILA – National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Wednesday around 120,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines daily would be administered in the National Capital Region Plus (NCR Plus) area if there is a steady supply of vaccines in the country.

“Our supply chain experts have also provided some sort of simulations wherein the NCR Plus will have 120,000 jabs a day with the requirement that the NCR should have a steady supply of 3.3 million (doses) monthly,” Galvez said during a House joint panel hearing.

He said the country expects a steady supply of about 10 million to 15 million vaccine doses per month in the third and fourth quarters of this year.

He said mega vaccination sites shall be designated in malls, different arenas, and gymnasiums to inoculate at least 120,000 individuals a day by June.

Galvez, also the country’s vaccine czar, earlier said the government is closely working with other nations through diplomatic channels for the country to get a steady and secure supply of vaccine to realize its target of inoculating 50 to 70 million adult Filipinos and enable the nation to achieve herd immunity by year-end.

He said the NTF is focusing on improving the country’s PDITR strategy, which stands for Prevent, Detect, Trace, Test, Isolate, Treat and Reintegrate.

Galvez said part of the plan is to provide greater protection to the public, while scaling up the nation’s Covid vaccine program.

These measures include the rolling out of the Medicine Package, Telemedicine, Home Service following the Peru and India models.

Galvez said the government would continue to build more intensive care unit rooms, provide additional hospital beds for severe and moderate Cover-19 cases, construct more temporary treatment and monitoring facilities, and ramp up its human resources support for healthcare facilities.