THE head of the National Vaccination Operations Center yesterday said government will unlikely meet its target of getting 90 million individuals fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by June 30 when President Duterte steps down from office.
“Mahirap na (It will be difficult). We are first to admit that,” said Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje.
“We are already at the last mile. It is really hard to reach the remaining one-third of the population. Many still refuse to get vaccinated, have not been convinced that they need additional shots, and are in hard to reach areas,” she added.
For now, she said, the government would focus on meeting the initial target of 77 million fully vaccinated individuals, from the current 66.8 million, and would try to improve booster shot numbers, which currently stand at 12.6 million.
“This means that we will need 900,000 jabs per day. We really need to ramp up our vaccination,” said Cabotaje.
“Currently, we are still having a slowdown. So we need to ramp up our vaccination efforts for the rest of April, then May, and June,” she said.
Cabotaje said they would enhance house-to-house vaccination operations and focus on areas with low vaccine coverage.
Otherwise, she said, the country may experience a new surge in COVID-19 cases.
“We all know that this virus is unpredictable. Many things are evolving. We need to err on the side of caution. We must get additional shots so we can have that additional layer of protection,” said Cabotaje.
To increase vaccination coverage, a series of special vaccination days will be held in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and several other areas.
According to the DOH, special vaccination days are set in the Soccsksargen region and Negros Oriental, and Negros Occidental provinces on April 20 to 22, Palawan on April 25-26, Marawi City (May 5-7), Lamitan City and Sulu (May 11-13), Basilan (May 11-13, 16-18, Lanao del Sur (May 16-20), Maguindanao (May 17-19), and Tawi-Tawi (May 18-20).
BARMM has the lowest vaccination rate among the country’s regions, at 28 percent as of April 10.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, in a briefing, urged the public anew to get vaccinated, especially those in areas with low coverage “so that we can complete the transition to the new normal.”
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, during President Duterte’s Talk to the People on Monday night, said 750 cities and municipalities nationwide, out of 1,634 local government units, are conducting house-to-house vaccination to improve the vaccination rate.
Early this month, President Duterte ordered house-to-house vaccination to reach those who are yet to be inoculated, especially senior citizens.
Vaccine czar and National Task Force against COVID-19 chief Carlito Galvez, also during the President’s address on Monday, said the government remains focused on efforts to fully vaccinate close to 90 million people by the end of the Duterte’s term.
Galvez, during the Talk to the People address with President Duterte, said the government has been relentless in its vaccination efforts, especially of the vulnerable sectors such as senior citizens and those with comorbidities.
“We will still maintain our focus on vaccinating the remaining 1.8 million population of seniors. This is the direction of Department of Health Secretary Duque. This is what the world community said should be our main focus, the vulnerable areas],” he said in mixed Filipino and English.
Galvez said their focus in the remainder of the President’s term remains to be: to seek the remaining 20 percent of senior citizens, or about 1.8 million, who are still unvaccinated; accelerate pediatric vaccination or fully vaccinate about 11.5 million minors aged five to 11 years; improve efforts in providing booster shots, which accounts for about 40 million; provide booster to about 10 million adolescents or 12-to-17-year-olds; and provide a second booster to at least 15 million people belonging to the vulnerable sector.
To date, 1.49 million five-to-11-year-olds are fully vaccinated, while 9.106 million 12 adolescents are fully vaccinated. At least 6.642 million senior citizens are fully vaccinated,
Galvez said the government is also committed to improving the vaccine coverage in BARMM and Soccsksargen.
Of the 3.516 million target population in BARMM, 1.2 million or 34.15 percent have received their first dose; 959,301 or 27.28 percent are fully vaccinated, and 80,254 or 2.28 percent have received booster shots.
In Soccsksargen, of the 4.072 million targeted population, 2.668 million or 65.52 percent have received their first dose; 2.38 million or 58.56 percent are fully vaccinated, and 254,343 or 6.25 percent have received booster shots.
Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said as of April 18, about 144.78 million doses of vaccines have been administered nationwide.
At least 66.979 million individuals (74.42 percent) are fully vaccinated or have completed the single-dose or two-dose vaccines, while 72 million persons (80 percent) have already received the first of the two-dose vaccines.
About 12.687 million have received booster shots. — With Victor Reyes and Jocelyn Montemayor
