THE government spelled out its 2022 vaccination strategy, which will mainly focus on immunizing the unvaccinated population including school-aged children and providing booster shots to medical and economic frontliners.
In his report to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte during the latter’s “Talk to the People on COVID” aired Tuesday night, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said one major goal is to achieve the remaining milestone of 77 million, 90 million, and then total population by next year.
The government will target inoculating those who haven’t received COVID-19 jab, provide booster dose, and protect children in preparation for in-person classes.
Another goal of the government vaccination campaign is to ensure the safety of both the medical and economic frontliners, said Galvez, who is also the chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19.
To achieve these, the government will carry out mobile, barangay-to-barangay vaccinations, which Galvez said, were proven very effective. He cited a successful inoculation campaign in one barangay, which was able to vaccinate big number of people.
“At ‘yun po ang nakikita namin na baka gawin po ni Secretary Año, gagawa rin po siya ng memorandum na magkakaroon na po ng barangay-to-barangay at saka ‘yung house-to-house vaccination site,” he told the President.
“Kasi kung ang gagawin po natin na doon sa malls — sa malls lang po ang vaccination site, minsan po hindi po makapunta ‘yung mga tao doon sa malls. So kailangan talaga ibaba po sa barangay ang ating mga vaccination site.”
To further protect vaccinated individuals, booster shots will be administered three months after the second dose. The three-month spacing has been approved by the Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and will be executed soon, according to Galvez.
