Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Monday concurred with Marikina City Second District Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo that the P2.5 billion appropriation the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines in 2021 may not be enough.
In an online media forum, Vergeire said that the DOH will be needing P10.5 billion to vaccinate the “priority population” identified by President Duterte.
“[These are] the health-care workers for both private and public [hospitals], indigent senior citizens, indigent, or vulnerable population or the poor…we need about P10.5 billion and [the P2.5 billion] is really not enough,” Vergeire said.
Vergeire said that the initial estimate for the vaccine is around P12.1 billion to cover just about 20 percent of the population.
The health official said that they are already looking for ways to be able to produce the needed amount by tapping unprogrammed funds.
“The Congress, or our lawmakers, have committed to help prioritize [the budget for] vaccines if how much do we need. They will be helping us,” she added.
Vergeire also said that they might possibly obtain a loan from the sate-run Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines.
Covid cases
As of 4 p.m. October 19, the Department of Health (DOH) reported the total number of Covid-19 cases surged to 359,169.
Of the confirmed cases, 42,191 (11.7 percent) are active cases, 310,303 (86.4 percent) have recovered and 6,675 (1.9 percent) have died.
A total of 2,638 newly-confirmed cases were reported with 226 recoveries and 15 deaths.
The top regions with cases in the recent two weeks were National Capital Region (555 or 29 percent) Region 4A (463 or 24 percent) and Region 6 (187 or 10 percent).