PH ranks 4th in one-day jabs worldwide

THE Philippines has clinched the fourth spot in the global rankings of nations with the highest daily Covid-19 jab rate, the National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF) said on Friday.

This was achieved during the first day of the National Vaccination Days on November 29 where around 2.7 million doses were administered nationwide.

The Philippines is next to China’s 22 million, India’s 10 million and the United States’ 3.48 million doses, and followed by Brazil with 2.6 million doses, based on the global monitoring website ‘Our World in Data’.

“Kung dati ay libo-libo lang ang ating nababakunahan sa isang araw, ngayon ay nagawa na natin itong paabutin ng halos tatlong milyon kada araw. Ito ay dahil sa ating pagbabayanihan at pagkakaisa (Before, we could only vaccinate thousands in one day, but now we have attained nearly three million vaccinations in a day. This is because of our bayanihan and unity),” vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said in a statement.

Held from November 29 to December 1, the country administered a total of 7,628,432 doses during the “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” immunization drive.

Of this number, 2,713,731 doses were administered on November 29; 2,466,728 on November 30, and 2,447,973 on December 1, according to consolidated data from the National Vaccination Operations Center.

This was short by some 1.4 million doses as the government originally targeted to inoculate 9 million Filipinos during the three-day vaccination program.

Still, Galvez said that the event was successful since its goal of inoculating 70 percent of its target population with at least one dose by the end of November was achieved.

As of December 1, a total 55,415,753 individuals have already been vaccinated with at least one dose or 71.84 percent of the country’s target population.

This figure already includes the 36,869,419 individuals who are now fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

The government aims to fully vaccinate 77 million Filipinos by the end of 2021 to attain herd immunity or population protection.

“Our new milestone is a testament of the strength and efficiency of our national vaccination program,” Galvez said.

“More than 55.4 million na ngayon ang may at least one dose. Ibig sabihin nito, talagang maaabot natin ang target na 54 million fully vaccinated individuals bago matapos ang taon, lalo’t patuloy pa rin ang malawakan nating pagbabakuna,” he added.

Among the 17 regions in the country, Metro Manila recorded the highest vaccination coverage, having administered at least one dose to 112.16 percent of its target population.

Six other regions have vaccinated with at least one dose to more than 70 percent of their target population. These include the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Ilocos Region (Region 1), Cagayan Valley (Region 2), Central Luzon (Region 3), Calabarzon (Region 4A), and Northern Mindanao (Region 10).

The government expects that these regions will be able to fully vaccinate their target populations before the end of the year.

“We have to give huge credit to our bayanihan (civic unity) spirit in achieving these record-high numbers,” Galvez said.

“In the past three days, we have administered more than double our usual vaccination output prior to our National Vaccination Days. This alone is a major achievement and a testament of success of our major rollout,” he added.

Meanwhile, the NTF announced that local government units (LGUs) can extend the national Covid-19 vaccination drive until Friday, December 3.

Based on Advisory 112 released by the NTF, the extension is meant to sustain the momentum of the massive vaccination rollout, as a large number of people are still lining up in vaccination sites nationwide.

Regional Vaccination Operation Centers are also directed to provide support to LGUs — vaccine supplies, technical assistance and additional resources — who will decide to extend their Bayanihan, Bakunahan rollout.

The second leg of the National Vaccination Days, which aims to further ramp up the first and second dose coverage of Filipinos, will be held from December 15 to 17.