MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte said the government could open COVID-19 inoculation to the general public by October as the country battles its worst surge in infections driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant.
“I’d like the people to know that we’re studying the possibility of vaccinating the general adult population as early as October if there is a stable vaccine supply,” Duterte said in a taped speech aired on Tuesday.
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Only healthcare workers, senior citizens, people with comorbidities, economic frontliners and indigent individuals are being inoculated at the moment.
Duterte also said that the poor must be prioritized in the government’s vaccination program.
“In far-flung areas of the country outside Metro Manila, there are a lot of Filipinos waiting to be vaccinated… I would suggest that you prioritize the poor, those who cannot really afford to be traveling back and forth,” he said.
The Philippines has administered 39.1 million doses of COVID-19 jabs, with 17 million people so far completing vaccination.
Initially, the government was aiming to fully vaccinate 70% of the nation’s 109 million population, but the emergence of the hyper contagious Delta variant prompted officials to raise the country’s vaccination coverage to 90%.
The Philippines, which has the second highest number of infections and deaths in Southeast Asia, has been reporting over 20,000 cases for three days in a row. — Gaea Katreena Cabico