By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora | Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippine government targets to inoculate five million people in the three-day “National Vaccination Day” this November, a ranking pandemic task force official said Friday (Nov. 5).
“Our target here is to administer jabs for about five million. The plan is this November and that’s already in the pipeline,” National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 head of strategic communications on current operations, Assistant Secretary Wilben Mayor, said in an interview.
“It’s a convergence of all sectors, of the national government, private, and other entities so that we can arrive at that particular target.”
The Department of Health (DOH) earlier said the campaign would not only feature simultaneous vaccination but also dialogues with experts to explain the importance of getting inoculated.
This massive vaccination drive is part of government efforts to achieve “population protection” before the year ends.
As of this posting, about 28,718,856 individuals have been fully vaccinated, accounting for 26.06% of the country’s total population.
‘More doses’
On Friday, Mayor and officials of the DOH and the United States Embassy welcomed the arrival of 866,970 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which are part of the 1.7 million government-procured doses that will be delivered by Nov. 6.
The latest data from the NTF showed that Manila is expected to receive about 20 million more doses within the month.
Since the start of the pandemic, Manila has secured 109,779,430 vaccine doses.
US Embassy Economic Officer Saptarshi Basu, meanwhile, relayed Washington DC’s commitment to supporting the Philippines in defeating the disease and until everyone is vaccinated.
“We’re very proud to support the Philippines in its quest to conquer this disease. We’ve been a partner of the Philippines in this fight against COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) from the start,” Basu said.
“Whether it’s procurement, a donation, a joint venture, we’re very proud of American vaccines and we’re very proud of the vaccines that have come now. We’ll be here until the end. This disease isn’t fully defeated until we’re all vaccinated.” (PNA) – bny
