By Christopher Lloyd Caliwan | Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine doses delivered to the country has exceeded the 200-million mark, an official of the National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 said on Sunday (Dec. 26) night.
The figure includes the private sector-procured 1,957,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine that arrived at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.
“Kinagagalak ko ibalita sa ating mga kababayan, another milestone natin, 200,885,005 doses ang natanggap natin mga bakuna sa atin bansa muli itong pinapakita natin ang ating pamahahalaan ating commitment sa ating ating mga kababayan para labanan ang COVID-19 (I am pleased to report to our fellow Filipinos of another milestone achieved in our fight against COVID-19 as total vaccines acquired by our country now amounts to 200,885,005 million doses. This shows our government’s dedication and commitment to our people in containing the COVID-19 pandemic,” NTF strategic communications on current operations head, Assistant Secretary Wilben Mayor told reporters.
Mayor added that a total of 47,128,197 million Filipinos, representing 61.10% of the target population and 42.77% of the country’s total population are now fully vaccinated.
Mayor urged all unvaccinated Filipinos to get their COVID-19 jabs now due to the emerging health threats posed by the Omicron variant.
He added that more than 20 million COVID-19 are available in government stockpiles and are sufficient for those who want to get inoculated.
The Philippines still needs to fully vaccinate 7 million Filipinos by the end of the month to meet its target of 54 million and achieve population protection this year.
Based on the data from the national COVID-19 vaccination dashboard, the Philippines, as of Dec. 25, has administered a total of 105,329,784 doses of vaccines nationwide, with 47,109,449 Filipinos now fully protected and 1,365,827 others have received their booster shots.
Due to the onslaught of Typhoon Odette, the country’s average daily COVID-19 vaccination rate has decreased to 675,567 doses. (PNA) – bny
