Population protection in the National Capital Region (NCR) can be achieved by September if the government continues giving priority to the NCR Plus 8 areas in its COVID-19 vaccination program, the OCTA Research Group said Wednesday.
The country seeks to vaccinate 70 percent of the population in highly urbanized areas for population protection, but OCTA’s Ranjit Rye said only 10 percent of NCR residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
OCTA has urged the government to continue giving priority to NCR Plus 8, which is composed of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Batangas, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao.
“If we will be able to manage the pandemic in these areas, our economy will recover, [and] we could give more jobs to the public, so we’re really looking forward to opening the economy in the NCR Plus 8,” Rye said in Filipino.
Though the vaccination priority is the NCR Plus 8, if the economy opens up, the whole country will benefit, he said.
The Philippines administered over 375,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday, its highest daily output so far.
Earlier this week, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said achieving herd immunity by the end of the year remains a huge challenge as only 4.5 percent of the target population have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
“We have administered so far 13,196,282 vaccines. Of that number, we have given the first dose to 9,669,940 or 12.44 percent of our target population. For the second dose, we have only full-vaccinated 3,526,342 or about 4.54 percent of our target. So, achieving herd immunity by the end of the year remains a huge challenge,” Galvez said during President Rodrigo Duterte’s public address late Monday evening.
The government initially targeted vaccinating 60 percent to 70 percent of the population or about 70 million people to achieve herd immunity.
However, the tight global vaccine supply has forced health experts to shift the target toward population protection, which entails vaccinating 58 million people in highly urbanized areas.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said achieving herd immunity is the ultimate goal, but it will depend on the arrival of vaccines.
With Tuesday’s vaccination record, the country is getting closer to its goal of 500,000 jabs a day, Duque said.
The country has so far administered a total of 14 million doses, Duque also said.
The health chief said about 10 million people have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine while some 4 million have completed both shots.
The Philippines received an additional 1 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese firm Sinovac on Wednesday morning.
Other vaccine brands expected to arrive this month include Sputnik V, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson.
Less than 1 percent of almost 12 million recipients of COVID-19 vaccines in the Philippines reported experiencing a side effect, a member of the DOH technical advisory group said on Wednesday.
Dr. Anna Ong-Lim , during a forum hosted by the Philippine Society of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, said only 47,897 side effects have been recorded as of July 4, which accounts for 0.41 percent of the 11,708,029 doses administered by that period.
Out of the 47,897 reported side effects, 97.76 percent or 46,826 were non-serious while 2.23 percent or 1,071 were considered serious.
A serious side effect is defined by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as one that results in death, a life-threatening situation like anaphylaxis, in-patient and prolonged hospitalization, persistent or significant disability, or congenital anomaly or birth defect.
Lim said the most commonly reported side effects were increased blood pressure, headache, pain at the injection site, fever, and dizziness.
“To date, no fatal case reports are found to have [a] causal relationship with the vaccines,” Lim said.
DOH data presented by Lim showed that the breakdown of doses administered and reported side effects per brand as of July 4 as follows:
Sinovac – 7,765,513 doses administered; 18,779 (0.24 percent) side effects reported, including 18,262 (97.24 percent) non-serious and 518 (2.75 percent) serious;
AstraZeneca – 2,657,656 doses administered; 27,529 (1.03 percent) side effects reported, including 27,017 (98.14 percent) non-serious and 512 (1.86 percent) serious;
Sputnik V – 127,662 doses administered; 551 (0.43 percent) side effects reported, including 545 (98.91 percent) non-serious and six (1.08 percent) serious;
Pfizer – 1,132,995 doses administered; 1,038 (0.09 percent) side effects reported, including 1,002 (96.53 percent) non-serious and 36 (3.46 percent) serious;
Moderna – 24,203 doses administered; zero side effects reported.
More than 9.7 million people have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines while over 3.5 million people have completed both doses as of July 11.
The Philippines will receive another shipment of Moderna vaccines from the United States on Thursday, the Manila International Airport Authority said.
The shipment of 250,800 doses, which is scheduled to arrive around 1:05 p.m. at the NAIA Terminal 3 on board Singapore Airlines flight SQ-910, will be the second batch of Moderna vaccines, following the arrival of the first shipment on June 27.
The Department of Health is the consignee of 194,400 doses while the rest will be going to the International Container Terminals Services, Inc.