MANILA, Philippines — The number of Filipinos who received COVID-19 vaccines is approaching the 800,000-mark, with over 13,000 individuals with comorbidities having received their first dose.
During a Palace briefing on Monday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said a total of 795,320 individuals have been inoculated against COVID-19 as of April 3.
Among those vaccinated were 765,871 medical frontliners, 16,121 senior citizens and 13,288 individuals with comorbidities.
Under the government’s vaccination priority list, healthcare workers are at the top priority, followed by senior citizens and those with comorbidities.
According to data presented by Roque, there are 2,669 vaccination sites across the country.
The country started its vaccination rollout last March 1, 2021, following the arrival of 600,000 doses of CoronaVac vaccine from Sinovac Biotech which were donated by the Chinese government.
The aircraft carrying China’s donation of 600,000 doses of Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine arrives in the Philippines on Feb. 28, 2021. (Photo courtesy of PCOO)
On March 4, 487,200 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from British-Swede firm AstraZeneca arrived in the country through the Covax facility. This was followed by another set of 38,400 doses that arrived on March 7.
Vials labelled “Astra Zeneca COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine” and a syringe are seen in front of a displayed AstraZeneca logo, in this illustration photo taken March 14, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
The country also received 1 million government-procured doses of Sinovac’s vaccine on Mar. 29.