By Alec Go
The Philippine government announced on Saturday (Nov. 27) that there will be another three-day national vaccination drive that will take place from Dec. 15 to 17 in a bid to fully vaccinate 54 million Filipinos before the end of the year.
In a joint statement National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 and the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC), the second Bayanihan Bakunahan event “will be focused on administering the second dose and boosters.”
The first event to be held from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1, with its first and last days declared as special working days, will be dedicated to expanding booster jab coverage and first dose inoculation coverage to 70%.
In the Nov. 27 Laging Handa briefing, Dr. Beverly Ho of the Department of Health (DOH) Health Promotion Bureau said this followed the consultation made this week with local leaders.
“We wanted to increase access to the vaccines at patuloy pa kasing may mga dadating na mga bakuna in the next few weeks. It’s staggered,” she said.
Ho said the target population for the second vaccination drive will be set after the conduct of the Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 national vaccination drive.
Reduced target
In the same statement, the NTF and NVOC said they have adjusted the 15 million jab target on Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 to just 9 million, with a daily national target of 3 million doses.
“As we are finalizing the preparations for this massive movement across the 16 regions outside Metro Manila, there is currently a shortage in ancillary supplies, particularly syringes for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines and other logistical challenges,” it stated.
“The scheduled shipment of the procured supplies made through UNICEF have been delayed due to the current global shortage,” it added.
The DOH has called on the public anew on Saturday to volunteer in the vaccination drive. It currently has around 30,000 volunteers.
Read more: Volunteer registration opens for National COVID-19 Vaccination Days
– bny
