AFTER four episodes, the Department of Health (DOH) is dropping the National Vaccination Days program for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine rollout.
In a televised public briefing, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje yesterday announced the government will no longer have another “Bayanihan Bakunahan” program and will instead shift its strategy on areas with low vaccination coverages.
“We will no longer have a general campaign as many have already reached a high vaccination rate with 70 percent of their population fully vaccinated, including the senior citizens. We will just focus on areas and provinces needing help. We will concentrate in those areas,” said Cabotaje.
The head of the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) said the government needs to adopt a more focused and targeted vaccination drive in areas with low vaccination rates because “there are still those that are still hesitating out of fear of side effects, and complacency since cases are already going down.”
“We have reached the point where we need to find and convince them to get jabbed,” she added.
The decision also came after the latest NVD episode again failed to meet its 1.8 million target vaccinees.
“As of yesterday (Monday), a total of 1.4 million doses have been administered under the ‘Bayanihan Bakunahan’ 4,” said the health official, adding: “As usual, the BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) had the lowest numbers at 31 percent (25,000) out of their 84,000 target for the NVD.”
The NVD 4 was originally set from March 10 to 12 with a target of 1.8 million vaccinees. It has since been extended until yesterday for the general population, while those for senior citizens will continue until Friday.
As of the latest data, 64.6 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. In addition, there are also 11.2 million Filipinos that have been given booster shots.
Among senior citizens, about 6.5 million are already fully vaccinated, and 1.9 million having received booster jabs.
SINOVAC
Meanwhile, on the heels of the approval for its use on minors by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Cabotaje said there is no need to procure separate batches of Sinovac vaccines for minors and adults.
“The doses that will be used for pediatric individuals have the same formulation as those for adults. For Sinovac, the dose and formulation for the adults are the same with those for minors,” said Cabotaje.
“Therefore, we do not need to buy additional Sinovac doses. We have enough on stock,” she added.
To note, Pfizer’s vaccine for children 5 to 11 years old have different formulation with those used by 12 years old and above.
However, Cabotaje said the Sinovac jabs may not be used for children with comorbidities because “under the amended emergency use authorization (EUA) of Sinovac, it is for healthy children. It is possible that children with comorbidities will not be included.”
Cabotaje said such details will be included in the implementing guidelines set to be issued by the DOH.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the implementing guidelines may be out in at least two weeks’ time or after the Health Technology Assessment Council submits its recommendations to the DOH.
“In the meantime, the social preparation among local governments is already underway for the start of the vaccination, probably after two weeks, for the Sinovac jabs for the 6 years old and above,” said Vergeire in a virtual press briefing.
