CLARK — National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer and Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez Jr. yesterday assures that the country will have a steady supply of Covid-19 vaccines in the last quarter of 2021.

During the ‘Sa Bakuna, Panalo Ka’ event held at SM City Clark, Galvez said that on top of the 77.4 million vaccine doses already delivered to the Philippines, the country is expecting another five million Pfizer vaccines from the Covax facility; and 10 million Sinovac, 10 million Pfizer, and five million Moderna from its procurement.

“As we enter the 4th quarter, we expect large deliveries from various manufacturers. As early as last week, we have received delivery confirmation for this month of already 18.3 million doses composed of Pfizer, Moderna, and Sinovac vaccines. These include more than 3.5 M doses of Pfizer BioNtech for the US Covax donation delivered over the weekend,” he said.

The vaccine czar added that the national government is also set to sign another contract for six million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccines, which will be used for the country’s January allocation.

“For the information of everybody, we are already communicating with four manufacturers for the procurement of our doses for 2022. We are eyeing to procure around 90 to 100 million doses for next year,” Galvez said.

He said this will boost the vaccination program of the government on the A1 to A5 priority sectors, as well as the general population.

Galvez added that with this steady supply of vaccines, the government will also start vaccinating children on October 15initially in six hospitals in Metro Manila, and will eventually expand this to all cities in the National Capital Region.

“We believe that we should start inoculating young people to give them immediate protection against Covid-19. This will also be the key to opening our school for limited face to face classes,” he said.

The vaccine czar also encouraged local governments across the country to continue to increase their vaccination rate, especially during the last quarter of the year, where large vaccine deliveries from various manufacturers are expected.

Galvez called on all sectors for their continued support so that together the whole nation can emerge from the pandemic.

Meanwhile, he assured that the national government will do everything to alleviate the effects of this crisis and continue to protect the public and rebuild the country’s economy.

For his part, Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Benjamin Abalos Jr. said that Metro Manilans are ready to help their neighboring provinces under the NCR Plus areas boost their vaccination efforts in order to achieve herd immunity.

“As of October 2, Metro Manila had 16.1 million doses broken up into 8.7 million as first dose which is 89%, and 7.4 million which is 75.57%. One month from the said date, Metro Manila will be hitting 84% of its population with two doses which is about 8.2 million. After three months, it is estimated to achieve 92% vaccination coverage. With that, we are willing to provide assistance like human resources so that neighboring provinces in Central Luzon and Calabarzon will achieve the same,” Abalos said.