MANILA, Philippines —Citing the low rate of vaccine acceptance in the country, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian called on the government to allow "the willing" from the general public in Metro Manila and nearby areas to be vaccinated next month, when he says there will be enough COVID-19 jabs for them.
A survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations found that only 32% of Filipinos were willing to be inoculated against COVID-19, with some 35% still uncertain, and another 33% unwilling.
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This comes as the government targets herd immunity in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, and six other provinces in Calabarzon and Central Luzon by November 27. Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said that would require administering 500,000 shots nationwide per day or 3 million per week.
"With vaccine acceptance only at 32% (SWS), government should allow the general public in NCR+ to be vaccinated as early as June," Gatchalian said on Twitter Monday.
"We have enough vaccines to do it," he added while estimating that some 25.7 million adults are eligible to be vaccinated in the 'NCR Plus' area but only 8.2 million are willing to actually receive the jab.
With vaccine acceptance only at 32% (SWS), gov't should allow the general public in NCR+ to be vaccinated as early as June. We have enough vaccines to do it:
1. Vaccines by June: 20m (Gen. Galvez)
2. Population in NCR+: 25.7m
3. Vaccine acceptance in NCR+: 8.2m— Sherwin Gatchalian (@stgatchalian) May 23, 2021
He repeated this in an interview with ANC's "Headstart" Tuesday, noting that the Philippines "will have 21 million vaccines in inventory" by next month, more than enough to cover those willing to be inoculated in the epicenter of the country's coronavirus outbreak.
"[I]f you do the simple math in the NCR cluster, that’s about 26 million [adults] in population... The vaccine acceptance rate is only 32% so if you multiply the 25 million by 32 percent you get about 8 million," Gatchalian said.
The survey conducted by SWS found that the vaccine acceptance rate is actually highest in Metro Manila at 41%.
"In addition, private sector vaccines will arrive in June," Gatchalian said on Twitter. "By allowing the 'willing' to be vaccinated as early as possible is the only way to get herd immunity the soonest."
Figures from Our World in Data show that only 0.87% of the Philippines' population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of May 23.
Galvez in April said the Philippines was targeting to open vaccinations to the general public by September 2021.
— Bella Perez-Rubio