BY JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR and GERARD NAVAL
THE government has fully vaccinated 80.78 percent of its targeted population, or around 63.09 million, a year after it started the inoculation drive against COVID-19, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said Monday night.
About 10 million individuals have been given booster shots, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a briefing yesterday.
Galvez, at the “Talk to the People” address of President Duterte, expressed confidence that despite a vaccination slowdown, the government will still reach its target of fully vaccinating 90 million people by the end of June and administer boosters to 72.16 million individuals before the year ends.
Galvez said that as of February 27, some 135.5 million doses have been administered, and the 63.09 million fully-vaccinated individuals account for 56.55 percent of the country’s total population.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said yesterday that as of February 28, some 135.747 million vaccine doses have been administered nationwide.
Among those given the shots are healthcare workers, at 93.38 percent of the 1.63 million target; 92.5 percent of the 9 million people with comorbidities; 62.82 percent of the 8.25 million senior citizens; 736,880 children aged 5 to 11 years; and 9.5 million adolescents aged 12 to 17 years .
The government launched the national vaccination program on March 1 last year, a day after receiving its first vaccine supply — 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine donated by China. Since then, the country has about 225 million doses, with over 90 million doses still in stock, Galvez said.
He said government is waiting for additional pediatric vaccines. More than 2.34 million of the 15 million pediatric vaccines bought by the government have been delivered.
He said the government remains committed to inoculating the remaining unvaccinated individuals including some three million senior citizens and about three million children aged between 5 and 17 years.
He expressed gratitude to countries, foreign partners and allies, and the World Health Organization-led COVAX Facility that donated a total of 81.7 doses of vaccines.
