GOVERNMENT will hold a fourth nation vaccination drive next month following its failure to reach its five million target in the third “Bayanihan Bakunahan,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said yesterday.
He did not give the exact date yet or the government’s targeted number of individuals for the next round of mass vaccination but said that senior citizens will be prioritized.
The government aims to inoculate some three million unvaccinated elders and persons with comorbidities apart from striving to fully vaccinate 77 million people by the end of March and 90 million people by the end of June.
Duque said the government is looking at going house-to-house to bring the vaccines, especially the booster closer to the senior citizens and those who are unable to go to the vaccine centers to be inoculated or receive their booster shot.
The first Bayanihan, Bakunahan mass vaccination drive was held from November 29 to December 1 last year, followed by the second round from December 15 to 17, and the third round from February 11 to 18.
The last Bayanihan, Bakunahan reached only three million of its five 5 million targets.
“We have already reached the saturation points of the vaccine centers, and there has been a slowdown in the vaccination. During the National Vaccination Days 3, instead of having a high coverage rate, only 68 to 70 percent of the target have been met),” Duque said in Filipino.
