BY GERARD NAVAL and JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR
THE National Capital Region (Metro Manila) is projected to have 100 percent COVID-19 vaccine coverage of its qualified adult population by next month, the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday.
“Hopefully, by November, December, we can attain the very high (rate) of almost 100% target in the NCR for those 18 years old and above,” said Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, head the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC), said in a briefing.
As for the rest of the country, Cabotaje said “we are looking at the first quarter of 2022 that we will see fully-vaccinated population,” she said.
Based on latest data, the National Capital Region has 8.5 million fully-vaccinated individuals, or 87 percent of the 9.7 million eligible population.
Nationwide, some 27.36 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated, or about 35 percent of the 77.1 million target population, as of October 31. About 35.6 million have been given the first dose.
Broken down into priority groups, 1.5 million healthcare workers (A1) are fully vaccinated, 4.7 million senior citizens (A2), 7.2 million people with comorbidities (A3), 9.3 million frontline workers (A4), and 3 million poor population (A5). For the rest of the population (B and C), the DOH said there are already 370,000 fully jabbed individuals.
Among minors, the DOH said 37,964 minors aged 12-17 years have been inoculated.
Cabotaje said that for the targets to be met, there is a need for the government to double its efforts. She said this means the daily vaccination rate of 500,000 must be increased to 1 million jabs per day.
“We need to work double time. It should be all hands on deck so we can meet the 1 million target,” said Cabotaje.
She acknowledged though that the numbers have slowed down in recent days due to the observance of the holidays.
“But we expect that once our health workers return from their vacation, we will be ramping up our vaccination and reach 1 million per day,” she said.
She also asked local government units to encourage their constituents to get vaccinated while COVID-19 cases are on a downward trend.
“It’s better to ramp up now that there is no surge as the health centers are more available and the people are not afraid to go out to get inoculated,” said Cabotaje.
VACCINE REPLACEMENT
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the national government will immediately replace some 150,000 doses of vaccines destroyed in a fire in Zamboanga del Sur, which razed a provincial complex that houses the Integrated Provincial Health Office in Pagadian City on Sunday night.
Investigators are still determining what caused the fire.
Richard Fabria, Pagadian City disaster risk reduction and management officer, said around 150,000 doses of AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer and Sinovac vaccines were damaged by the blaze.
A joint statement by Health Secretary Francisco Duque, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, and testing czar Vince Dizon said 148,678 doses were damaged — 9,176 doses of AstraZeneca, 14,400 doses of Moderna, 88,938 Pfizer-BioNTech, and 36,164 doses of Sinovac vaccines.
Also damaged were routine immunization vaccines allocated for Zamboanga del Sur, the joint statement added.
The National Task Force against COVID-19 (NTF) said the three-storey building is occupied by offices and departments of the provincial government and houses the provincial cold chain storage facility for COVID-19 vaccines.
“The responders are now in the process of retrieving vaccines which can still be used, as well as unutilized refrigerators, carriers, and transport boxes. Vaccine administration at the provincial and municipal level has also been rescheduled. We would like to assure the residents of Zamboanga del Sur that the NTF and NVOC will replenish all the damaged vaccines, especially those meant for citizens who are scheduled to get their second dose soon. The vaccine doses will be shipped immediately as soon as the new cold storage is ready for use,” NTF said in a statement.
Officials yesterday received 2.7 million doses of Sputnik V vaccines, composed of 1.35 million of component 1 and 1.35 million of component 2.
Herbosa said another 5 million doses of Sputnik V is expected to be delivered on November 8, which is part of the 10 million doses of Russian vaccines bought by the government.
The country has received about 108.9 million doses of vaccines since February. The national vaccination program was launched on March 1.
NTF adviser Dr. Teodoro Herbosa said the NTF is planning a nationwide National Vaccination Day sometime this month to boost the inoculation program and reach as many of the unvaccinated individuals in the country.
Herbosa also said the vaccination of all children aged between 12 and 17 years starts today in Metro Manila and expand to the rest of the country by November 5.
Only Pfizer and Moderna vaccines may be used among adolescents.
Galvez last week said the goal of the government is to complete the vaccination of 12-to-17-year-olds by December 31. — With Victor Reyes
