Rising infections, lockdowns have slowed down COVID-19 vaccination – Galvez

With another rise in coronavirus infections, the government has been forced to put Metro Manila and several other places under strict lockdown.  (File photo by JILSON SECKLER TIU / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — The government’s COVID-19 vaccination program has slowed down even as it is racing against time in the face of highly contagious variants that have been emerging and a rise in the number of infections, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. admitted in the taped weekly briefing with President Rodrigo Duterte that aired late Monday night and lasted until early Tuesday.

With the rise in infections, the government was forced to reimpose strict lockdowns and strict border controls in some areas, which in turn led to the slowing down of the momentum of the country’s vaccination program, he explained.

Galvez added that many local government units (LGUs) were likewise forced to split their focus between vaccination against COVID-19 and the distribution of cash aid.

“The number of our vaccinations slightly went down because our LGUs are focused on their pandemic response,” Galvez said in Filipino.

In August, the government so far was able to administer over 7.3 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in 15 days, which indicates that it might be able to administer 15 million jabs before the month ends, Galvez said.

So far, the government has administered over 27 million doses, over 15 million of which are first doses and 12.5 million are second doses.

This means that about 12.5 million individuals have so far been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, which represents 17.73% of the eligible population and 11.40% of the total population of the Philippines, Galvez said.

ATM