BY JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR and GERARD NAVAL
GOVERNMENT’S target of fully vaccinating 54 million people by the end of the year remains despite a slowdown in COVID-19 inoculation in the past days due to typhoon “Odette” and its failure to reach its target of 7 million jabbed during the second phase of the “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” national vaccination days.
National Task Force against coronavirus disease (NTF COVID-19) chief Carlito Galvez Jr., during the “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” vaccine drive held in SM Taytay in Rizal yesterday, said the country was able to vaccinate only 2.3 million people during the Phase 2 last week as several regions had to postpone the inoculation drive due to Odette.
Galvez said many people, even in areas out of the typhoon path, were also reluctant to go
to vaccination centers because of concerns about the weather situation.
He expressed hope the country will eventually reach the 7-million target as some areas resumed the vaccination drive.
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, head of the National Vaccination Operations Center, said the NVOC has encouraged all regions to continuously ramp up their vaccination efforts as the national government is bent on meeting the target of having 54 million fully vaccinated Filipinos by the end of 2021.
“We want to reach the 54 million target of fully vaccinated individuals by year end. We can do this by ramping up our vaccination,” she said.
As of December 19, 43.5 million individuals have been fully vaccinated, 56.2 and million partially vaccinated.
For Phase 2, Cabotaje said that from December 15 to 18, about 2.5 million vaccine doses were administered in the National Capital Region, the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), and Regions I (Ilocos), II (Cagayan Valley), III (Central Luzon, and IV-A (Calabarzon).
She said about 1.07 million doses were administered on December 15, 768,078 doses on December 16, 642,425 doses on December 17, and 62,410 on December 18.
The Department of Health-NVOC Dashboard said that as of December 19, the government has administered 100.9 million doses of vaccines nationwide — 56.26 million as first dose, 43.53 million as second and final dose, and 1.113 million as booster shots.
Cabotaje also said 100 vials of Pfizer vaccines expired in Bingawan, Iloilo.
“It has already been deployed there. But it wasn’t administered because the typhoon hit the area. This led to the expiration of the doses because it is only good for 30 days under 2 to 8 degrees (cold storage),” she said.
Aside from the 100 vials, she said they are still awaiting results of the assessment of vaccine supplies in the rest of Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, and Caraga.
“There is ongoing assessment of potential damage to cold chain storage facilities and vaccine wastage due to limited communication lines and continuous power outages,” she said.
As for the 13 other regions, Cabotaje said there has been no damage to cold chain facilities, as well as zero reported vaccine wastage.
And with the supply chain intact, Cabotaje said most of the regions have already resumed the vaccination program rollout.
“Majority of the areas will already start their full blast vaccination operation today (Monday)… There are even those who said they might conduct them in the evacuation centers,” she said.
“We are leaving this decision to the local governments as to when they can really resume vaccination in their areas,” added Cabotaje.
There were 639 local government units (LGUs) that were forced to suspend their vaccination activities due to the typhoon.
Areas include those in Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, and Caraga regions.
NTF deputy implementer Vince Dizon said the government is not “pressuring” Odette-affected regions to proceed with the vaccination program as the priority now are relief, rehabilitation and recovery efforts.
He, however, said the government might do the vaccination in the evacuation centers in the coming days.
Galvez said the country now has over 186 million doses of vaccines. At least 1.775 million doses of Pfizer donated by the United States government through the COVAX Facility, arrived yesterday.
