Health workers and frontliners receive their 2nd dose of the Sinovac vaccine against COVID-19 held at Marikina Elementary School covered court, Marikina City on May 4, 2021. INQUIRER file photo / Niño Jesus Orbeta
MANILA, Philippines — About 97%of health workers in Metro Manila, which is considered the epicenter of COVID-19 infections in the country, have already received vaccines against the severe respiratory illness, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday.
As for the nationwide count, 85% of health care workers in the country have already received their COVID-19 vaccine dose, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said.
The remaining 15% health workers are mostly from provinces who are still having second thoughts on whether or not to get vaccinated, she added.
“Ang karamihan ay ‘yung mga nasa probinsya. Kailangan nating hikayatin ‘yung mga barangay health workers, ‘yung ating mga members ng barangay emergency health response teams, medyo nag-aatubili pa sila,” she said in a Laging Handa public briefing.
(Most of them are in the provinces. We need to encourage the barangay health workers, the members of the barangay emergency health response teams because they still have doubts.)
“So kailangan talagang kumbinsihin. These are mostly in the provinces and in the regions,” she added.
(So they need to be convinced. These are mostly in the provinces and in the regions.)
So far, the Philippines has administered 4.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, with over one million individuals already receiving two doses.
As of May 25, a total of 1,340,337 health workers have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 581,797 have completed their second dose, the DOH said.