1.9% fully vaccinated in Philippines with 8 million COVID-19 doses dispensed
MANILA, Philippines (Updated June 21 at 9:51 a.m.) — The Philippines has administered over eight million doses of COVID-19 vaccine more than three months since the efforts began, inoculation czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said Sunday.
Citing data from the National Vaccination Operations Center, he said 8,050,711 shots have since been given by June 18 from the 7,563,241 that Malacanang reported as of June 16.
That would translate to 2,096,901 fully vaccinated individuals or 1.90% of the population, a figure that remains far from the 50 to 70 million target by officials this year to reach herd immunity.
Some 5,953,810, meanwhile, have received their first dose, per Galvez.
"There is no letup in our vaccination campaign," he said in a statement. "All sectors of society are working together so that we can start to move on from this pandemic, bring back a greater sense to our lives, and further open up our economy."
Vaccinations in the country began in March and remains for those in priority groups.
Galvez said 1,053,373 health workers have completed their shots, while 1,939,599 senior citizens got their first dose and 536,476 with their second.
Of those with comorbidities, he said 498,925 are now fully vaccinated, while 2,005,206 got their first shot.
Essential workers or those in the A4 list, meanwhile, were at 8,127 completely inoculated, with 452,600 with their first dose.
The senior administration official added that 23,826 indigents got their initial shot, as some local governments in Metro Manila began inoculation for the A5 list recently.
On June 15, the country saw its highest number of doses administered at 322,929, according to Galvez. He added that inoculations are underway in some 3,991 sites.
The Philippines has received 14,205,870 vaccine doses in total, a combination of donated and procured jabs.
Those being administered are Sinovac, Sputnik V, as well as Pfizer and AstraZeneca from the COVAX Facility. This month, Galvez said another 1.5 million with arrive on June 24, while the country will receive its first ever supply of Moderna at 250,000 doses by June 27.
COVAX, the World Health Organization-led initiative, will also send 2.02 million more AstraZeneca doses, while 150,000 of Sputnik V will also reach the country this month.
The national government has so far secured two official deals for COVID-19 vaccine supplies in the Philippines, one with Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac and another with the Serum Institute of India.
Watch this space for bite-sized developments on the vaccines in the Philippines. (Main image by Markus Spiske via Unsplash)
Health Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire says the general population may now get their second booster jab.
"We're just waiting for the release of implementing guidelines, then we'll start rolling out our second booster for the general population," she says. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
Amid questions on vaccines being administered, the Department of Health assures the public all doses are safe and effective as the “process of extending shelf life goes through thorough stability studies.”
“The government ensures that every vaccine that is injected with an extended shelf life has gone through studies, and is still safe and effective against COVID-19,” it adds.
Government must increase vaccination capacity across the Philippines in anticipation of a surge of COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant of the corona virus, Sen. Risa Hontiveros says.
She says local government units and the private sector can work together to put up more vaccination centers and deploy more vaccination teams to get more people inoculated against COVID-19.
"The active COVID cases have nearly doubled in three days. The positivity rate is almost four times the ceiling set by the World Health Organization. Huwag na nating hintayin na sobrang lumala pa ang sitwasyon bago tayo gumawa ng paraan para mapabilis ang ating pagbabakuna."
FDA chief Eric Domingo says that its agency has given emergency approval for the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.
The United States immunized around 900,000 children aged five-to-11 against Covid in the first week the Pfizer vaccine was authorized for them, a White House official says Wednesday.
Roughly 700,000 more have made appointments at pharmacies, White House Covid coordinator Jeff Zients tells reporters.
"The program is just getting up to full strength," he says, adding most of the shots were given in the last couple of days alone. — AFP
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