Malacañang on Monday said that only a percentage of the population in the country is slated to gain access to the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) vaccine.

This is in compliance to herd immunity, a method which serves as the government’s COVID-19 response so the country will finally from the infection that it has been battling for months now.

Herd immunity is safeguarding a large portion of a population against a virus through vaccination.

“According to DOH (Department of Health), we need to give vaccines to 50 percent of the population so we can have herd (immunity). To those who do not want to be immunized, we will just let them be,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque revealed.

Accoring to National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez Jr., the government is still negotiating with four companies including AstraZeneca (England), Sinovac (China), Pfizer (United States) and BioNTech (Germany).

Among the brands, AstraZeneca is being most eyed on due to its affordability. One vaccine can be purchased for $5 or P240. However, it requires two doses per person.

Galvez noted that once they secure the procurement of the items, the country would have around 60 million doses of AstraZeneca in 2021.

The Philippine government mandates that a vaccine should first seal an approval from the Department of Health and the Food and Drug Administration before public distribution.