PH pandemic response proven to be effective in balancing health and economy, vaccination throughput reached 5M in a week’s time — Galvez 

MALACANANG (9 November 2021) — National Task Force against COVID-19 Chief Implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. believes the national government’s pandemic response efforts have been effective following a downward trend in COVID-19 cases and the reported expansion in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

“All along, our strategy of balanced pandemic response is right in saving lives, saving livelihood, saving our economy, and our future generation,” Galvez said, noting these positive developments are contrary to the recent rankings released by financial publications regarding the capability of nations to respond to the challenges cause by the health crisis.

Economic expansion

He pointed out that the Philippines government’s actual performance in managing the people’s health and sustaining the economy have enabled the country’s GDP to expand by 7.1% in the third quarter, while the nationwide COVID-19 positivity rate is now below 5%, as mentioned by  Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua. This is despite that the NCR and most of our economic centers were under ECQ/MECQ for six weeks.

“The numbers don’t lie. These are recent world data that should be the basis on how we look at a country’s overall pandemic response efforts. The main criteria, among others, should be the low number of cases and an expanding economy,” Galvez said.

“We may have done it gradually, but in a safe and sustainable manner. This is a strategy we will continue to implement to ensure that our cases continue to decrease and our economic indicators continue to go up,” he explained.

“We are on the right track in safely transitioning to more relaxed movement restrictions especially as we move closer to the holidays season. Our goal remains, and that is, to continue ramping up our vaccination drive in order to save more lives and sustain economic recovery,” Galvez added.

The Philippines’ year-on-year GDP growth for the third quarter was above the national government’s expected outcome, as the country imposed more stringent quarantine measures during the surge in cases caused by the Delta variant.

The country’s Industry and services sectors posted positive growth during the third quarter, which now stand at 7.9% and 8.2%, respectively.

According to Sec Chua, the government’s target of achieving a GDP growth of 4% to 5% in 2021 is attainable following these latest economic trends.

Galvez expressed optimism on the country’s ‘sustainable economic recovery,’ as he noted that local government units in central business districts across the Philippines have started scaling up their vaccination output.

“As we vaccinate more people and significantly increase our daily jab rate, there will be less movement restrictions, and more business establishments will be able to revive their operations and provide more jobs and opportunities for our countrymen,” said Galvez.

During the President’s Talk to the People on Tuesday, IATF Chair and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III reported that the country has recorded its lowest number of confirmed cases on November 9 with only 1,409 cases.

According to Duque, this was only the third time that less than 2,000 cases were reported in a single day.

“Sana po ay patuloy na bumaba pa ang atin pong mga kaso at para nang sa ganoon, makapagluwag pa po ang mas malaking bahagi ng ating ekonomiya,” he said.

“Patuloy na bumubuti ang atin pong [world] ranking kung saan pagdating po sa aktibong mga kaso, nasa ika-53 sa buong mundo at ika-lima sa ASEAN para sa bilang ng active cases. At noong nakaraang linggo, November 2, number 40th po tayo globally and 4th in ASEAN,” Duque shared.

“Samantalang noong peak, noong September 6 to 12, 2021, number 15th tayo globally and 3rd in the ASEAN. So dito mas maganda — mas mababa ‘yung ranking, mas maganda ang isinasalamin nito na atin pong tugon sa pandemya,” he added.

Scaled up vaccination

Galvez said that the Philippines’ vaccination output has significantly gone up this November following the steady arrival of bigger vaccine shipments as well as the aggressive vaccination rollout of many LGUs.

“‘Yung challenge ni Presidente sa mga LGUs, kasama na ang directive ni Secretary Año, ay nagkaroon ng positive result dahil tumaas ang ating vaccine administration output,” shared Galvez.

According to the vaccine czar, the Philippines was able to record its highest weekly vaccination throughput from November 2 to 8 with 5,473,704 jabs administered, while the 7-day daily average rate hit 781,957 jabs.

“Many doubted that we could not achieve our goal of administering 5 million jabs in a week. Now, what we are seeing and reporting is real National data. However, we can still improve on these figures, as we aim to achieve and sustain a 1.5 million daily jab rate,” said Galvez.

As of November 9, the Philippines has administered a total of 65,764,376 doses. More than 39.25 million Filipinos or 50.89% of the target population have received at least one dose of the COVID 19 vaccines. Of this number, 30.1 million individuals are now fully vaccinated.

Bayanihan, Bakunahan

Galvez said the government aims to further scale up its vaccination program through the National Vaccination Days dubbed as Bayanihan, Bakunahan which will be held from November 29 to December 1.

The chief implementer said that the nationwide activity will be “utilizing the Bayanihan concept, which involves all sectors of society and all government agencies to inoculate at least 15 million individuals in three days.”

“It will be likened to an election day kung saan ang mga tao ay pumupunta sa kanilang mga presinto upang bumoto. Dito, lahat ng tao na hindi bakunado at ‘yung mga kailangan ng boosters ay pupunta sa designated vaccination sites para magpabakuna,” he explained.

Galvez said that concerned agencies have already begun initial preparations for the landmark event which is expected to cause a major uptick in COVID-19 inoculations throughout the country.

“This will not stop after three days. This will just be the start so we can build up momentum. We will continue to work on sustaining the program and consequently, achieve our goal of fully vaccinating 54 million Filipinos by year end,” he shared.

Galvez said that private sector partners, including medical associations, have committed to support the three-day activity through manpower, logistics, venues, and communications.

“Ito rin ay isang paraan para matulungan natin ang mga areas na medyo mahina sa vaccination due to some challenges and logistical limitations,” he said.

Galvez said the NTF, along with other concerned-agencies, are currently conducting a series of consultations with LGUs and private sector partners “in order to complete the ingredients and details of the three-day vaccination plan.” END