OCTA: Vaccinating 90% of seniors lessens deaths; doable by July, August

MANILA, Philippines — The OCTA Research Group on Tuesday expressed optimism that the Philippines can vaccinate 90 percent of senior citizens by the end of July or August, saying this will significantly decrease the country’s COVID-19 fatality rate.

Out of the 8.2 million senior citizens in the government’s master list, the latest data showed 2.6 million senior citizens have received their first dose while over 915,000 have been fully vaccinated.

READ: Gov’t aims to vaccinate 90 percent of senior citizens by end of July

“Kung makuha natin yung mga ine-expect nating vaccines, I haven’t done any calculations pero mukhang possible naman siya, if not end of July baka by August,” OCTA fellow Dr. Guido David said in a televised briefing.

(If we will get our expected vaccines, I haven’t done any calculations but it looks possible if not by the end of July, maybe by August.)

“Malaking tulong ito because if we protect the senior [citizens], bababa talaga yung case fatality rate natin. Pati yung mamamatay due to COVID, kasi yung mga seniors yung medyo mataas ang fatality rate nila,” he added.

(This is of big help because if we protect the senior citizens, our case on fatality rate will decrease. Those who are dying of COVID will decrease because the fatality rate is high among seniors.)

The Philippines has so far administered over 13 million jabs, with 3.5 million persons already fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The government is eyeing to double this number to 7 million by the end of the month, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said.

JPV