SAYING that 'Mindanao will not be left behind,' Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. promised that the region would 'immediately' receive vaccines against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) once more supplies arrive in the Philippines.

Galvez, the chief implementer of the National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF), said the country was expecting to receive over 10 million Covid-19 vaccines this month.

'The National Task Force against Covid-19 would like to assure our honorable members of the Congress that we will not neglect the regions, especially those in Mindanao, in our vaccine deployment,' Galvez said in a statement.

'Following President Rodrigo Duterte's directive to deploy more vaccines to the regions, we will immediately send more vaccines in Mindanao as soon as the rest of the deliveries arrive this month,' he added.

Galvez made the assurance after Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez lamented how Galvez and officials of the Covid-19 task force were supposedly neglecting the coronavirus situation in Mindanao.

As of June 14, the NTF said some 1.7 million doses of vaccines have been delivered to Mindanao, with 210,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines in Davao Region, 35,000 in Cagayan de Oro City and additional vaccines to Dipolog, Zamboanga City, Cotabato City, Zamboanga del Sur, General Santos City, Koronadal, Bukidnon, Butuan and other affected areas of Luzon and Visayas.

The country has, so far, received over 12.7 million doses of coronavirus vaccines from various suppliers, including most recently from Russia and the Covax facility.