Bohol Inter Agency Task Force (BIATF) spokesman Dr. Cesar Tomas Lopez bared that the delay in the vaccine rollout in the province poses danger to the province in terms of possible surge in the number of Coronavirus disease (Covid) cases.
He gave the statement during an exclusive interview on Friday, Apr. 30, 2021, over Newsmakers ug Uban Pa program hosted by the mother and son tandem of Ardy and Chandymar Araneta-Batoy.
Ardy Batoy asked Dr. Lopez the question: “Dili ba kaha delikado sa kahimtang sa lalawigan, Dr. Lopez, kung madugay ang atong pagbakuna sa kadaghanan sa atong mga Bol-anon?”
To the above question of Ardy Batoy, Dr. Lopez answered: “Mabutang gayud ta [Bohol] sa ka delikado kay what we are doing now are [imposition] of protocols, murag temporary in nature. So, without sufficient and timely vaccinations, mabutang sa problema ang [Covid] sitwasyon nato sa lalawigan,” he bared.
The BIATF spokesman added that as of Friday, there are about 36,000 Boholanos vaccinated with the anti-Covid vaccines.
He sees that the number of individuals vaccinated in the province to be too low considering the province’s population of about 1.3 million.
“As we speak, mga 36,000 pa lang ang atong na vaccinate for a population of 1.3 [million] Boholanos, so layo pa kaayo,” Lopez said during the interview.
The BIATF spokesman mentioned in the interview that the fight against Covid would be easier if only there is enough supply of vaccines to inoculate a large number of Boholanos.
“Nindot unta to kun daghan ba gayud ang [supply sa] vaccine nga nanulod kay we will be capable of vaccinating hundreds of thousands people unta,” Lopez quipped.
The delay in the rollout has something to do with vaccine supply, something the provincial government has no control over, Lopez explained.
The National Government is the one procuring and distributing the vaccines against Covid in the country and Bohol relies on the supply coming from the National Government.
REMEDY
For Lopez, he sees the prompt procurement of vaccines as the remedy to the delay in the vaccine rollout.
Lopez stressed that the provincial government already earmarked P100 million to purchase vaccines.
We can recall that the provincial government, through Provincial Administrator Kathyrin Pioquinto, stated earlier that it [the provincial government] prefers to procure the vaccines made by AstraZenica and Novavax because the said brands can be stored using ordinary freezers.
The City Government of Tagbilaran also set aside funds for the purchase of the AstraZenica vaccine, Lopez pointed out during the interview.
Lopez added that some private enterprises are also willing to procure vaccines for their respective employees.
The local government and private sector initiatives to purchase vaccines are meant to be less reliant on the supply coming from the National Government, Lopez bared.
However, even with the capacity to purchase vaccines, the problem boils down to the lack of available stocks of vaccine doses from the manufacturers, he stated in the interview.