PHL achieves 150k jabs a day, 1M per week; over 5M doses already administered
(Eagle News) – The Philippines has been able to administer over 5 million vaccine doses before the end of May, and has vaccinated over three million individuals, according to vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.
In his report to President Rodrigo Duterte, Galvez said that the country was also able to triple the number of people vaccinated this May compared to April, and was even able to reach 150,000 per day vaccination — the highest in the ASEAN region.
Galvez said that among the five largest ASEAN countries, the Philippines has the highest number of vaccines administered per day — what the vaccine czar calls “throughput”
“Ibig sabihin po ng throughput, tayo na po ang malakas maginject ng jabs every day,” he said. Galvez said that the country had even surpassed Indonesia and Thailand, in terms of numbers per day of vaccination.
“So nakita natin nauna na po tayo sa Thailand at saka naiwanan na rin po natin ang Indonesia in terms of ‘yong 100 — iyong tinatawag nating jabs per day,” he said.
Galvez said that the country breached the 5 million vaccine mark on Friday, May 28.
“Meaning, hindi pa po natatapos ang Mayo ay na-breach na po natin ‘yong 5 million mark. Sa totoo lang po, iyong ano po ito po na-triple po ‘yong output po natin. Noong March-April, 1 million lang po tayo ng 40 days. Ngayon po, na-triple po natin. Hindi pa umaabot ang end ng ano ng May ay 3 milyon po ang ating nabakunahan,” he said.
-PH administers 1 million jabs per week in the last 2 weeks-
Galvez said that for two consecutive weeks, the country was able to achieve a rate of 1 million per week being vaccinated.
“At ang nakikita po natin gumaganda na rin po ang ating datos dahil two consecutive weeks na po na 1 million per week na po tayo. So maganda po ang ating naging pagbabakuna noong nakaraang dalawang linggo,” he said.
Because of this, Galvez said that the Philippines now topped ASEAN countries, in terms of numbers being vaccinated per day.
“Ngayon po ang Pilipinas na ay mayroon ng pinakamataas na vaccine administration throughput o ‘yong tinatawag natin na tempo dahil sa ASEAN po, tayo po ang pinakamataas na 150,000 per day,” he said.
So far, the country has vaccinated 93 percent of its health care workers (A1 category). For senior citizens (A2 category), more than 1.3 million out of the 9.8 million elderly have been vaccinated. Those with comorbidities (A3 category), the Philippines was able to vaccinate 1.17 million out of the five million targeted population.
-Over 3M remaining doses reserved as 2nd vaccine dose-
Galvez explained that of the over 8 million vaccine doses that the country had received, the remaining 3.148 million doses have been reserved as second doses.
He pointed out that the country could vaccinate more people, but the only limiting factor is the supplies of vaccines that the country has. So far, over 8.2 million vaccine doses have been delivered in the country.
In all, the vaccine doses already administered are at least 5,180,721. Of this number, over 1.2 million have completed two doses of the vaccines, while over 3.9 million have been given first doses.
-PHL waiting for more vaccine deliveries-
The Philippines is still waiting for additional vaccine deliveries this month to speed up its vaccine rollout. He said that Sinovac will be delivering an additional 1 million doses this June, while some 2.2 million Pfizer doses – through the COVAX Facility – will be delivered also this month. He said another 2 million AstraZeneca doses, and another 1 million Sputnik V doses from Russia.
“So more or less mayroon po tayong 10 million na mare-receive sa June. So nakikita po natin aarangkada po tayo sa June kaya puwede po tayong mag-open sa ating mga A4 at saka A5, just in case na ma-saturate na po natin ‘yong tinatawag nating A2 at saka po ‘yong A3,” Galvez explained.
A4 refers to the economic frontliners, while A5 refers to the poor or indigent Filipinos.
(Eagle News Service)