DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire talks with reporters via Zoom meeting in this file photo taken on April 23, 2020. INQUIRER.net file photo / Daphne Galvez
MANILA, Philippines — The country has so far administered a total of 656,331 COVID-19 vaccine shots out of the 1,525,600 available doses, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.
According to DOH, 1,233,500 or 80.85 percent of the available doses have so far been distributed to vaccination sites.
As of March 27, COVID-19 vaccination is being conducted in 2,494 sites in all 17 regions, said the DOH.
On Saturday, Malacañang announced that the vaccination for health workers, elderly, and persons with comorbidities will be held simultaneously in a bid to hasten the vaccine rollout.
The said groups are the top three priorities in the inoculation program.
Meanwhile, the DOH also said it is not yet redistributing vaccine doses from areas with low uptake of the jabs.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said experts have advised against redistributing the vaccines, citing the need to minimize the handling process.
“‘Yung redistribution ay hindi natin ginagawa pa sa ngayon dahil ayaw ng ating experts [We are not redistributing the vaccines for now because experts are against it]. It’s a recommendation from our experts that we should just minimize handling of the vaccines,” she said in an online press briefing.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier ordered heads of vaccination sites with low uptake to administer the distributed vaccines to healthcare workers by March 25. Otherwise, they would lose the precious doses to COVID-19 hotspots where it may be used up faster.
The DOH later said it is eyeing an extension to this deadline.
According to Vergeire, the DOH is providing instructions to implementing sites on how to use up the remaining doses.
She added that implementing units were instructed to list all healthcare workers in their jurisdictions until March 31.
Vergeire earlier said that around 600,000 of the estimated 1.8 million health workers in the country have yet to be located because they are working freelance or are employed in other private establishments.
Given these numbers, Vergeire called on healthcare workers, who have yet to be included in the master list for vaccine beneficiaries, to register.
“We also have called on—this is an open call—for all healthcare professionals, societies, dental associations, midwife associations, at iba pa po, na kayo po ay magpalista na sa local governments para mabakunahan na natin ang inyong mga myembro at ma-exhaust po natin ang ating mga healthcare workers [for the vaccination],” she said.
(We have called on all healthcare professionals and societies, dental associations, midwife associations, and others, to enlist to your local governments so that all healthcare workers can be vaccinated.)