MORE vaccines are expected to arrive in Davao Region this month, according to an official from the Davao City Health Office (CHO).
CHO Acting Head Dr. Ashley Lopez said on Wednesday, June 9, that the region is expected to receive more than 200,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Thursday, June 10.
He said this is the highest allocated Pfizer vaccine from the National Government for a local government unit.
The official said he will personally be present during the arrival of the vaccines.
In a press release, the Department of Health-Davao Region (DOH-Davao) confirmed the arrival of the Pfizer vaccines.
An arrival and virtual acceptance ceremony will be conducted around 6:30 a.m. Thursday, June 10.
Unlike in previous vaccine arrivals, the event will be done virtually in accordance with the issued Executive Order (EO) 31, prohibiting all face-to-face non-essential events of all local and national government offices effective May 26 to August 31, 2021.
Lopez, meanwhile, said Davao Region is also expected to receive around two million doses of Sinovac and AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines later this month.
He said that based on the initial information, the vaccines are expected to arrive in the third week this month.
He clarified that this is still the allocation from the National Government.
Lopez said the vaccines ordered by the local government and private offices are expected to arrive in August this year.
"The Covax [Facility] and other manufacturers, gina-prioritize lang gihapon ang [government]. Ang demand man gud ani kay worldwide so unahon gyud ang gobyerno (Since the demand for these is worldwide, purchases made by the National Government are being prioritized)," the CHO head said.
Covax or Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines directed by the World Health Organization (WHO), and other public-private partnership groups.
The region recently received a total of 44,800 more doses of Sinovac CoronaVac vaccines on Tuesday morning, June 8, 2021, bringing the total Covid-19 vaccines that the region has received since March to 432,050 doses.
High growth rate
Meanwhile, in the June 8, 2021 Monitoring Report of the Octa Research Group, Davao City is among the five local government units in the country with the highest growth rate in Covid-19 cases from the period of June 1 to 7.
Topping the list is Dumaguete City with 195 percent, followed by Koronadal (124 percent), Roxas City in Capiz (55 percent), Cotabato City (51 percent), and Davao City (44 percent).
With the rising number of areas in Mindanao placed under tight quarantine status brought about by the rising Covid-19 cases, President Rodrigo Duterte wants to fast-track the Covid-19 vaccine rollout in Visayas and Mindanao.
Duterte ordered vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez to start distributing vaccines to various provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao to fast-track the Covid-19 vaccine rollout in the country.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio recently said the city is targeting to inoculate around 10,000 individuals per day in order to achieve the targeted herd immunity, which means 1.2 million population in the city must be vaccinated.