By Lade Jean Kabagani | Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippines has administered 52,157,598 doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of Sunday (Oct. 17).
The National COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard showed 27,921,074 were given as first doses while 24,236,524 were utilized as second doses.
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19, said the government has started to send the bulk of vaccines to areas outside the National Capital Region.
“Supply is no longer an issue for our country as of this time, as we now have adequate vaccines in our national inventory,” Galvez said in a statement.
He also commended local government units (LGUs) for their aggressive efforts to inoculate as many as possible despite confronting many challenges posed by the pandemic, including hesitancy and logistics.
READ MORE: More COVID-19 vaccines slated for distribution to LGUs
Galvez said inoculating more Filipinos will allow the country to achieve full economic recovery and hit population protection against the dreaded infection.
The Philippines has so far received 91,546,620 doses of Covid-19 vaccines, including the latest delivery of 207,090 doses of the Pfizer jab on Saturday (Oct. 16) night.
Steady supplies also allowed the country to start the vaccination of minors with comorbidities in the National Capital Region on Friday (Oct. 15), initially including those aged 15 to 17 years and the 12 to 14 age bracket next month.
The pilot rollout was held in eight hospitals in Metro Manila while the rollout in all 17 local government units will be on Oct. 22 using one hospital each as a vaccination site.
The regional rollout for areas that have fully vaccinated 50% of their senior citizens may begin on Nov. 5. (PNA) – bny
