The government of Olongapo City continues to roll out of COVID-19 vaccination as it inches closer to achieving herd immunity against the viral disease. (Photo courtesy of Olongapo City Information Center)
MANILA, Philippines — Even with vaccination drives suspended in various areas affected by Typhoon Odette, the government was still able to administer over 1.7 million COVID-19 vaccine doses as of December 16, Thursday.
Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said during a Laging Handa press briefing on Friday that they have recorded 1.060 million jabs, but updated reports for Thursday’s vaccination drive showed that 734,337 more persons were given the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Despite the calamities, ‘yong typhoon, we have reached 1,060,096 jabs last December 16, and another 734,000, December 16, ‘yong ating latest report. So sa kabuuan meron tayong 1.7 million total doses,” Cabotaje said.
(Despite the calamities, the typhoon, we have reached 1,060,096 jabs last December 16, and another 734,000, December 16, as of our latest report. So all in all we have administered 1.7 million total doses.)
This pushes the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered by the government to 100,019,137, where 43,029,348 are individuals who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
The fully-vaccinated individuals account for 55.78 percent of the country’s target population to achieve herd immunity.
For areas that have continued the vaccine drive, the top-performing regions are Calabarzon, Central Luzon, and the Ilocos Region.
The vaccine drive is seen as an important deterrent against further COVID-19 outbreaks, given that the DOH has already detected the COVID-19 Omicron variant in two travelers who recently arrived in the Philippines from Japan.
Last Wednesday, DOH said that the first patient is a Filipino returning from an overseas trip, who came from Japan last December 1, while the other case is a Nigerian national who arrived from Nigeria last November 30.
READ: DOH detects Omicron variant in 2 travelers from Japan, Nigeria
READ: Serious surge of infections likely if Omicron enters PH — Octa Research