Philippines ranks 8th among 10 in ASEAN vaccine rollout

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines ranks eighth among 10 Southeast Asian nations in terms of vaccinating its whole population and second in vaccine deployment against COVID-19.

Data provided by international think tank Our World in Data this month showed that the Philippines has vaccinated only about 4.23 percent of its total population as of June 8, with 6.31 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered so far.

Singapore – the second least populated nation in the region – leads with 42.8 percent vaccinated, followed by Cambodia with 16.72 percent, and Brunei – the least populated country in the region – with 11.37. With an absolute growth of at least 11 percent since April, Brunei is already ahead of Laos, which has vaccinated 9.74 percent of its population.

Meanwhile, Malaysia recorded 8.76 percent and is now ahead of Indonesia, the most populated country in the region, which had vaccinated 7.19 percent.

Thailand recorded 5.94 percent, and the Philippines was trailed by Myanmar and Vietnam at 3.26 and 1.40 percent, respectively.

In terms of doses administered the Philippines is second to Indonesia, which had deployed 31.2 million doses. The Philippines is trailed by Thailand with 5.67 million, Cambodia with 5.13 million, Singapore with 4.39 million, Malaysia with 4.1 million, Myanmar with 2.99 million, Vietnam with 1.41 million, Laos with 1.08 million and Brunei with 61,000.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier said the Philippines is expecting to ramp up its daily vaccination rate, when vaccine supply normalizes following the arrival of 2.2 million Pfizer vaccines, one million Sinovac vaccines and 100,000 Sputnik V vaccines last week.

The National Task Force against COVID-19 said the country was expecting 12 million doses to arrive next month and about 17 million in August. Galvez said the country was still working on closing supply agreements with Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, which is expected to yield 45 million doses.

The Philippines is currently racing its target of inoculating 70 million Filipinos by December to achieve herd immunity, while grappling with supply constraints, vaccine bias and hesitancy.