THE last batch of the 16.5-million AstraZeneca vaccine doses procured by local government units (LGUs) and the private sector through the “A Dose of Hope'' project that consisted of 1,877,600 shots arrived in the Philippines on January 21.

Assistant Secretary Wilben Mayor, National Task Force against Covid-19 head of strategic communications on current operations, thanked the private sector and LGUs for fully supporting the national vaccination program.

According to Mayor, the national government on January 20 piloted the implementation of “Resbakuna sa Botika,” wherein pharmacies and clinics were tapped to help administer Covid-19 booster shots to eligible adults.

He said some 422 individuals have so far received booster shots in four pharmacies in Metro Manila.

“Bago po tayo magpabakuna ng booster shots sa botika, ay kailangan po coordinated sa local government units natin dahil sila ang nagbibigay ng schedule para sa bakunahan sa mga botika,” Mayor said.

The NTF official urged unvaccinated individuals to get their primary doses, as well as booster shots as soon as possible to protect themselves against the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

“Nasisiguro po natin na ‘pag mayroon po tayong bakuna, ay protektado po tayo sa laban sa Covid lalong lalo na sa Omicron,” Mayor said.

Meanwhile, Swedish Ambassador Annika Thunborg reaffirmed her country’s support to the global effort to ensure that countries such as the Philippines have equitable access to life-saving vaccines.

“As a representative of the Swedish government, I’m also proud to be here and we are a small country of 10 million people but we are gonna be a contributor to the international system and the vaccine effort,” Thunborg said.

For her part, British Ambassador Laure Beaufils noted that around 40 million Astrazeneca vaccine doses have been delivered to the country.

“It’s particularly important that we continue to focus on the importance of vaccines now as we’re seeing the surge in Omicron,” Beaufils said.

“And we must not be complacent and continue to listen to the scientific evidence that is very clear that vaccines make such a critical difference to withstand Covid, including Omicron,” she added.

To date, a total of 215,519,520 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have arrived in the Philippines.