MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) stated that about 3.5 million individuals were vaccinated during the third run of the Philippines’ nationwide vaccination drive “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” from February 10 to 18.
While the numbers fell short of the DOH’s goal of five million vaccinees, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire claimed the initiative was nonetheless a success in the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
“Itutuloy-tuloy lang natin ang pag-ramp up ng vaccination so that we can be able to cover as much of the population as possible (We will continue to ramp up our vaccination so that we can be able to cover as much as possible),” she said in a Laging Handa briefing.
The government’s next possible approach, according to Vergeire, is to bring vaccination closer to communities by bolstering its house-to-house initiative.
National Task Force Against Covid-19 medical consultant, Dr. Ma. Paz Corrales, said the target was not reached due to some challenges, such as vaccine hesitancy and post-calamity effects.
“There were a lot of factors that is why we were not able to reach the target. One is the occurrence of Typhoon Odette and its affected areas. Then most of our health workers were afflicted with Covid-19 and there’s a little percentage of vaccine hesitancy,” she said in an interview Friday night at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 in Pasay City during the arrival of 1,138,430 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, donated by the Australian government.
Since the vaccination program against Covid-19 began in March 2021, the Philippines has completely immunized 62.3 million people.
Approximately 9.6 million people have had their booster shots, while more than 395,000 children aged 5 to 11 have received their first dose.
Corrales believes that more children will avail of vaccines, as it is essential to the economy’s opening and the resumption of face-to-face classes.
Since the initial delivery of 600,000 Sinovac doses on Feb. 28, 2021, the Philippines has so far received 224,823,360 doses of Covid-19 vaccines.
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