The government targets to complete the administration of two COVID-19 primary doses to at least 70 million Filipinos by March 31.
Dr. Ted Herbosa, the special medical adviser of the National Task Force against COVID-19, said fully vaccinating at least 70 million individuals was crucial to achieving population protection in the entire country, complementing the government’s exit plan to the pandemic.
“It is very important to fully vaccinate 70 million or 70 percent of our total population,” Herbosa said in a virtual interview over the Laging Handa briefing aired over state-run PTV news channel.
The government on Thursday started the third “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” massive vaccination drive to simultaneously inoculate at least five million Filipinos nationwide, until Friday.
Herbosa reiterated that the initiative aimed to capacitate the local government units still lagging in their vaccination drive, including the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
The Cordillera Administrative Region, Caraga region, Mimaropa, Soccsargen, the Zamboanga Peninsula, Eastern Visayas, the Bicol Region, and Central Visayas have likewise vaccinated below 70 percent of their total population, based on the data from the National Vaccination Operations Center, as of January 23.
So far, a total of 59,899,717 Filipinos are now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, including those who received single-dose Janssen vaccine and Sputnik Light jabs.
Of the total fully vaccinated individuals, 8,011,994 of them got booster doses.
Meanwhile, a new shipment of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, intended for the country’s third National Vaccination Days and for children aged 5 to 11 years old, arrived late Wednesday night at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The latest shipment consisted of 455,130 doses landed at the airport terminal 3 via Air Hong Kong flight LD-456 around 11 p.m.
The Manila International Airport Authority stated that the vaccines were procured by the Philippine government thru the World Bank.
The arrival came as the country gears up for the third round of National Vaccination Days.
Assistant Secretary Wilben Mayor, head of the Sub-Task Group on Current Operations of the NTF Against COVID-19 Strategic Communications, thanked the US government for facilitating the delivery and the World Bank for supporting the purchase of the life-saving vaccines.
Mayor said the national government aimed to administer about two million vaccine doses for the primary series and four million as booster shots during NVD 3.
As the country kicked off the COVID-19 vaccination for children aged 5 to 11 years old Monday, Mayor called on parents to have their children inoculated.
“Again, we urged parents to register their children and get vaccinated and we assured them that these vaccines are safe and effective,” he said.
“Too many children were vaccinated worldwide and there were no adverse effects,” he added.
Some 26,363 children aged 5 to 11 years old have so far been vaccinated against COVID-19 during the “Resbakuna Kids” program.
Based on National Vaccination Operations Center data as of February 8, around 60.4 million Filipinos are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while 8.3 million individuals have received their booster shot.
To date, a total of 218,233,530 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in the Philippines.
