DOH: NCR Plus 8 Getting Priority With 67% Of Vaccines

The National Capital Region (NCR) Plus 8 are priorities for COVID-19 inoculation deployment, the Department of Health (DOH) reported yesterday, saying that 67 percent of the vaccine supply was given to these areas.

- Sheila Crisostomo

In a statement, the DOH underscored that it supports the directive of President Duterte on prioritizing the NCR Plus 8 areas – Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, Bulacan, Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga and Rizal – for the COVID-19 vaccination program.

The agency noted that based on latest data, 67 percent of the vaccine supply was distributed to the NCR as well as Regions 4A, 3, 7 and 11.

“The government is eyeing the NCR Plus 8 areas which have been determined to be the most populous and of highest density, thus putting these at the greatest risk for COVID-19 transmission,” it added.

The agency maintained that such risks have “economic and social implications, which are inherently tied to health and nutrition outcomes.”

The DOH issued the statement after DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire rejected the recommendation of the OCTA Research Group to allocate 90 percent of vaccines to the NCR Plus.

According to DOH, “this (OCTA recommendation) is not only impractical, but is also inappropriate and inequitable.”

“There is a continuous need to allocate to other regions, especially to cover the remaining A1, A2 and A3 population groups who have not been vaccinated,” the agency maintained. This, respectively, pertains to health care workers, senior citizens and people with comorbidities – the sectors that are most vulnerable to COVID-19.

DOH data show that 166,861 doses of the vaccines were administered over a seven-day period last May 23, the highest since the start of the COVID-19 vaccination program.