Philippines administers 5.9 million COVID-19 vaccine doses
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines reached nearly six million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered by first week of June, government figures showed on Monday.
Latest statistics by the Department of Health showed 5,965,651 doses of the jab given to Filipinos, months since the much-needed inoculation efforts began.
That would translate to 1,544,332 individuals now fully vaccinated out of the government's own target of 50 to 70 million this year.
Some 4,421,319 have received their first dose. DOH reported too that the country was averaging 112,621 doses administered per day last week.
Vaccines currently in the country are: Sinovac, Sputnik V, and AstraZeneca and Pfizer from the World Health Organization-led COVAX Facility.
The release of the numbers came as vaccination began for those in the A4 priority list, or about 35 million essential workers in government, private, and informal sectors.
Among health workers or those on top of the list, 827,089 have completed their shots, while 1,398,710 got their first dose.
Some 368,387 elderly, meanwhile, are now also fully vaccinated while 1,537,365 are with their initial dose. Those with comorbidities were at 343,297 with complete with shots, while 1,472,985 with their first dose.
This month, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said nearly 10 million more doses may arrive in the country. The vaccinations became more crucial as government seeks to arrest a surge in COVID-19 infections that began in March that returned the capital region and nearby provinces to a stricter lockdown.
Health authorities continue to report over 5,000 daily additional cases, with the overall count at 1,269,478. There have also been 21,898 deaths, and 1,188,243 recoveries.
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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