738,913 Filipinos vaccinated by March 30 — task force
MANILA, Philippines — Nearly 739,000 Filipinos have received their COVID-19 vaccine on the first month of the country's inoculation efforts, government data showed on Thursday.
Broken down, that's 737,569 who got their first dose and 1,344 already completed with their second dose, according to data from the National Task Force Against COVID-19.
Most of the country's vaccine supply has been donated. Some 525,600 doses of AstraZeneca were from the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility, while a million doses of Sinovac were given by Beijing.
On March 29, another million doses of Sinovac arrived, which was the administration's first ever purchase of a COVID-19 jab. Other than that, officials have yet to finalize deals with manufacturers.
There had also been calls for officials to fast track vaccination efforts, especially with 50 million to 70 million targeted to be vaccinated this year and as a new surge in infections came that sent several areas back to stricter quarantine classifications.
The NTF said the seven-day average of daily vaccinated individuals was now at 32,940, with 2,596 sites operating. Further, 1.46 million out of the country's 2.52 million doses were also distributed.
Metro Manila, which was reverted to Enhanced Community Quarantine along with four other provinces for a week, had the most people vaccinated at 461,070.
It was followed by Calabarzon at 144,960, Central Luzon at 131,940, and Central Visayas at 117,960.
Apart from speeding up vaccinations and securing more supplies, government this month faced the challenge too of ensuring that its own priority list to vaccinate is followed.
It came after several local chief executives including an actor were shown to have received the jab, despite not being a medical worker directly dealing with COVID-19 patients.
The World Health Organization has since warned that failing to follow priorities could put at risk the country's share in the COVAX facility, which it remains reliant on supplies to date.
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