MANILA, Philippines — One in every two adult Filipinos believes that the COVID-19 vaccination rollout in the Philippines is slow, a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.
Results of the survey, conducted on June 23-26, were released on Tuesday and showed that 50 percent of the 1,200 respondents believe that the pace of vaccination in the country is either “somewhat slow” or “too slow.”
Forty-five percent said the pace was “alright,” while five percent have no opinion on the matter.
The numbers slightly changed when asked about the pace of vaccination in their own city or municipality, with 49 percent saying it is “alright” and 44 percent saying it is either “somewhat slow” or “too slow.”
On the pace of vaccination in their own barangay, 41 percent said it was “alright,” while 51 percent said it was either “somewhat slow” or “too slow.”
The percentage of those who consider the vaccination pace in the country as either “too slow” or “somewhat slow” is highest among respondents from Metro Manila (57 percent), followed by those in the rest of Luzon (55 percent), the Visayas (51 percent) and Mindanao (33 percent).
Conversely, those who said it was “alright” was highest among respondents in Mindanao (63 percent), followed by those in the Visayas (44 percent) and Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon (38 percent).?
Accessibility
The same survey also asked the respondents about the existence and accessibility of vaccination sites in their areas.
Sixty-eight percent said they either have “very easy” or “somewhat easy” access to a COVID-19 vaccination site.
Some three percent found it difficult, with the remaining 29 percent saying there is no vaccination site in their area.
Per area, a large majority of 83 percent of respondents in Metro Manila said they have easy access to a vaccination site, followed by those in Mindanao at 71 percent, the Visayas at 67 percent and the rest of Luzon at 62 percent.
Meanwhile, balance Luzon had the highest rate of respondents who said they have no vaccination in their areas at 35 percent, followed by those in the Visayas at 29 percent, Mindanao at 26 percent and Metro Manila at 16 percent.
2nd in ASEAN
The government said the Philippines now ranks second among its Southeast Asian neighbors and 23rd in the world in terms of administered COVID-19 jabs.
“As of Aug. 15, almost 28 million jabs have been administered nationwide, with more than 98 percent of our health frontliners vaccinated. Moreover, the Philippines now ranks second in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and 23rd in the world in terms of vaccination administered,” National Task Force against COVID-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said yesterday.
Galvez stressed that vaccination throughout the country increases by the day and is close to the government target of administering 750,000 jabs daily.
Yesterday, the DOH said companions of senior citizens and people with comorbidities will also be given the COVID-19 jabs when they reach the vaccination sites.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said it was decided that such company will be considered as a “plus 1” of the seniors and those with comorbidies who are categorized as A2 and A3 priority groups for vaccination, respectively.
“We have adopted this as a national policy. It’s the A2 plus 1 and the A3 plus 1 policy,” she noted in the DOH town hall meeting.
The move, she said, is meant to encourage the elderly and those with preexisting conditions to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
She, however, said that not all members of the A3 sector will be allowed to have plus 1.
“Only those in immunocompromised stages, such as those undergoing chemotherapy, had organ transplant and others that are very weak and in need of assistance, are allowed,” she added.
Data showed only 3,691,663 senior citizens are fully vaccinated, while another 747,573 are partially jabbed.
As for people with comorbidities, 4,738,847 are fully vaccinated and 1,609,682 partially inoculated.
MPAs on hold
Meanwhile, Galvez addressed the concern raised by Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri that multi-party agreements for the vaccine procurements were either not signed yet or put on hold.
“We would like to assure Senator Zubiri that the National Task Force against COVID-19 and the Vaccine Cluster are determined to secure safe, effective and sufficient vaccines to inoculate 100 percent of the country’s adult population,” he said.
Galvez also called on local government units to be more patient amid the limited supply of vaccines in the world market, but gave assurance that the national government has sufficient funds to make procurements. – Jose Rodel Clapano, Rudy Santos, Alexis Romero, Sheila Crisostomo