The Department of Health reported Monday that more than 193,000 Filipinos have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the first 13 days of the country’s inoculation program.
“So far, we have administered a total of 193,492 doses in the country. And 90% of our stocks have already been distributed to the vaccination sites,” Dr. Beverly Ho, Director of the Health Promotion Bureau and Disease Prevention and Control Bureau, said during a virtual briefing.
According to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, there are over 1 million health workers on the vaccination priority list.
Ho said 1,125,600 million vaccine doses have arrived in the Philippines so far.
The vaccines were from Sinovac and AstraZeneca. The two are two of the vaccine manufacturer given emergency use authorization (EUA) in the Philippines. Pfizer was also granted with EUA but its delivery has been delayed. All of the first batches of vaccines came from COVAX Facility.
Ho said Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. would be presenting to President Rodrigo the country’s vaccine deployment.
Last week, the World Bank granted US$500-million worth of funds for the Philippines’ vaccination program and COVID-19 pandemic response.
Over 193K Filipinos vaccinated against COVID-19 – DOH
“The newly approved financing will support the Philippines to vaccinate the population based on vulnerability and risk,” the Washington-based multilateral lender said in a statement.
“Priority groups include frontline health workers, senior citizens, indigent communities, followed by priority groups of teachers, government workers, indigenous peoples, and then the remaining population,” the World Bank said.
Meanwhile, DILG Undersecretary Martin Diño called on the national government to include governors, mayors, and barangay chairs on the COVID-19 vaccination priority list.
“Kami dapat manguna diyan. Hopefully, itong Inter-Agency Task Force, kami gamitin sa pag-promote ng vaccine,” Diño said at a virtual press briefing this Sunday.
“May request na kami niyan kasi 42,000 na kapitan, icha-challenge ko kayo. ‘Pag nagpa-inject mga barangay captain, kagawad—domino principle, para ma-encourage, kami mag-umpisa,” the DILG official said.
Diño also agreed that those who work in the media should also be considered frontliners and be vaccinated as soon as possible.