More vaccines against COVID-19 are expected to arrive in the Philippines in the coming days as the government accelerates its vaccine rollout to eventually achieve herd immunity and bring back normalcy in the country, according to Senator Christopher “Bong” Go.
In an interview, Go said that a total of 3,525,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have already arrived in the country, as of April 28. An additional 500,000 Sinovac doses also arrived this week, while the delivery of initial doses of Gamaleya Sputnik V from Russia are still being finalized.
Go shared that about ten million more vaccine doses are expected to arrive before the end of the first half of this year. The government aims to achieve its target of vaccinating around 70% of the country’s population against COVID-19 in 2021 to achieve herd immunity.
With the arrival of more vaccines in the country, Go called on the public to trust the government’s vaccination program and appealed to them to follow the vaccination priority list.
“Magtiwala kayo sa gobyerno, ‘wag kayo matakot sa bakuna, matakot kayo sa COVID-19. Ang bakuna po ang tanging susi natin para unti-unti na tayong makabalik sa normal na pamumuhay,” Go said.
He also reiterated that there should be no VIP treatment in the vaccination program.
“Kaya ako po, nananawagan sa ating mga kababayan na sumunod tayo sa priority list ng gobyerno. Unahin natin dapat ang frontliners, senior citizens, persons with comorbidities,” Go said.
“Importante dito, unahin natin ang mga frontliners. Sila po ang pinasabak natin sa giyerang ito, dapat armasan natin sila. ‘Di basta basta maging frontliners, nasa panganib ang kanilang buhay, kaya dapat mabakunahan ang 1.7 million na health frontliners at sunud-sunod na po ‘yan,” he added.
The Senator, meanwhile, continues to urge the public to strictly follow the government’s health protocols against COVID-19 as it seeks to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.
“Kung gusto n’yong bumalik tayo sa normal na pamumuhay, we have to cooperate with the government–self-discipline, paalala ng gobyerno, mask, face shield, social distancing, hugas ng kamay at, kung hindi naman po kailangan, ‘wag muna kayo umalis ng pamamahay dahil delikado pa po talaga,” he advised.
“Ginagawa naman ng gobyerno ang lahat para makakuha ng bakuna. To be honest, talagang limitado ang supply. ‘Yung galing COVAX… until now, ‘di pa dumarating ang kulang,” he added.
He said that the Philippines cannot afford to have the same situation as India’s where the healthcare system has reached its breaking point due to the record number of daily new cases and deaths in the South Asian country.
“Tignan n’yo ang nangyari (sa India), talagang hindi na kontrolado. ‘Yun ang ayaw nating mangyari na babagsak ang ating healthcare system. Kapag bumagsak po ang ating healthcare system, lagot tayo, hindi natin ma-afford na maging 100 percent ang occupancy rate (ng hospitals) o tatanggi na ang mga ospital,” he said.
“Kaya nga po binabalanse ngayon ng gobyerno ang lahat, ang kalusugan at ang pagbubukas po ng ekonomiya dahil hindi pwedeng bumagsak ang healthcare system,” he ended.
Source: http://www.senate.gov.ph
