MORE than half a million Filipinos have received the vaccine against COVID-19 since the Philippines kicked-off its national vaccination campaign in the beginning of March.
Based on the data from the Philippine Department of Health and the National Task Force against COVID-19 released Wednesday, March 24, a total of 508,332 individuals have been vaccinated against the virus.
“As of 23 March 2021, 6 p.m., 1,759 vaccination sites are conducting COVID-19 vaccination in various sites in 17 regions,” said the NTF.
Data showed that at least 98% of the available vaccines or 1,105,500 doses have been distributed to various vaccination sites across the country.
“The vaccine of HCWs [healthcare workers] is being done in batches to ensure adequate staffing in health facilities, in light of possible adverse events,” said the DOH and the NTF.
The health agency also noted that the “seven-day average of daily vaccinated individuals (is) 32,756.”
400K Sinovac doses
The Philippines on Wednesday received an additional 400,000 doses of Sinovac doses donated by China to the country.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, along with Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian, testing czar Vince Dizon, and Senate committee on health chairperson Senator Bong Go, received the vaccines at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
“The arrival of these vaccines could not have occurred at a more opportune time considering the continued rise in cases, which in turn increases the need to inoculate more high-risk individuals as soon as possible,” Duque said.
“We shall see to it that all of our healthcare workers, not just in the National Capital Region but in the whole country, are given the protection they need and deserve for being at the forefront of the battle against the virus,” he added.
Meanwhile, Xilian expressed hope that China’s donation would help speed up the vaccine rollout in the Philippines.
“I’m happy to know that until now, more than 200,000 people have been inoculated with [the] Chinese vaccine. The vaccination is going smoothly,” he said in an interview at NAIA.
“We hope we will contribute to speed up the mass vaccination in this country so that you win over the war against the virus and recover your economy at an early date,” he added.
To date, there are a total of 693,048 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country, with 13,095 fatalities and 580,062 recoveries.
