MANILA, Philippines — The national government will focus on the inoculation of residents of six regions outside Metro Manila in the three-day National Vaccination Days program that started on Monday.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. identified the regions as Calabarzon, Central Luzon, Bicol, Zamboanga Peninsula, SOCCSKSARGEN (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos) and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
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In an interview with CNN Philippines’ "The Source", Galvez said: "We dedicate a lot of vaccinators from the National Capital Region to Region 3 and 4A, so our concentrations is on [regions] 4A and 3, and regions where vaccination is low, BARMM, 5, 12 and 9."
He noted that the regions of Central Luzon and Calabarzon have around five million residents yet to be vaccinated. Cebu and the Davao region also reported low vaccination output, Galvez said.
NCR has posted a high vaccination rate and vaccination will now focus on areas outside the capital. Galvez said Metro Manila cities, as well as private hospitals, lent their vaccinators for deployment to other regions.
The government lowered its target doses to be administered during the three-day program to nine million, from the initial 15 million jabs due to logistical challenges such as syringe supply.
Galvez said they are working to administer three million doses in each of the days in the “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” program.
As of November 28, the government so far administered nearly 81.297 million doses and fully vaccinated 35.679 million Filipinos. There are 45.43 million others who are waiting for their second jabs, while 188,084 Filipinos have already received their booster dose.
The latest data as of 2 p.m. from the Department of Health tracker meanwhile showed that 113,399 individuals have received vaccines on the first day of the three-day Bayanihan Bakunahan program.
The government is targeting to fully vaccinate 54 million Filipinos in 2021. To help achieve this goal, there will be another three-day vaccination activity scheduled from December 15 to 17, which will focus on administering second doses and boosters. — with reports from Gaea Katreena Cabico