DOH Undersecretary and spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Recent international developments are expected to boost the government’s program to vaccinate the country’s population of 108 million against the deadly new coronavirus, including a donation from the United States and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) approval of a Chinese-made jab.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said at the Laging Handa briefing in Malacañang on Saturday that the government expected an increase in vaccinations, which have only reached 1.2 million Filipinos at the end of May since the inoculation program started in March.
Vergeire made the assessment after the United States announced on Friday that the Philippines would be among the 15 countries in Asia that would receive 7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
Sinovac get WHO nod
On the same day, the WHO approved the emergency use listing of the Chinese-made Sinovac jabs, of which China donated 1 million doses to the Philippines.
Vergeire said the WHO’s backing of Sinovac had addressed people’s concerns about the jab, with a survey showing that 63 percent of Filipinos preferred US-made vaccines compared to 19 percent who want it to come from China.
“Of course we saw that our countrymen became more receptive to [Sinovac]. I think their doubts were erased because this vaccine was able to prove that it can meet the standards of the WHO,” Vergeire said.
The number of recipients of the Sinovac vaccine in the government’s mass immunization drive has risen, she added.
So far, 1,206,371 people, or 1 percent of the country’s 110 million population, have been fully vaccinated with two doses.
As of May 30, a total of 5,180,721 vaccines have been administered, of which 3,974,350 were for the first dose.
Slow pace
The slow pace was mainly due to the country’s inventory of vaccines, but Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, said 7 million doses were expected in May and 10 million more doses in June.
Galvez said the country’s vaccine inventory may reach 21,829,050 by the end of June from its current stockpile of 5,155,957 doses, administered in 3,458 vaccination sites across the country.
He said the daily vaccination capacity in the National Capital Region also rose from 59,000 to 83,000 and the government was moving to expand this to 120,000 daily.
House Deputy Speaker and Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez urged the government to scale up inoculation as more vaccines arrive in the coming months.
“We should anticipate a surge in supply and prepare to scale up vaccination,” Rodriguez said.
The Philippines began its COVID-19 vaccination rollout in March with a limited supply of AstraZeneca and Sinovac Biotech vaccines.