NEARLY 216,000 people, mostly medical frontliners, were inoculated against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the first 15 days of vaccinations in the Philippines.
As of 6 p.m. Monday, March 15, 2021, Department of Health (DOH) records show that 215,997 have received the first dose.
They comprise about 12 percent of the 1.76 million healthcare workers targeted by the government for vaccination, but less than one percent of the estimated 24.7 million Filipinos targeted for inoculation under Priority Group A-1.
The vaccines used constitute about 19 percent of the 1,125,600 doses that have been delivered to all the regions.
Of the available vaccines, 1,079,400 doses, or almost 96 percent, have been distributed to 929 vaccination sites.
The National Capital Region (NCR) has received the biggest supply, at 278,870 doses (25.8 percent), as of March 15.
It was followed by Central Visayas, which has received 110,760 doses (10.3 percent), and Calabarzon, with 91,200 doses (8.4 percent).
A total of 82,900 doses have been delivered to Central Luzon while Davao Region and Soccsksargen have received 53,600 and 52,950 doses, respectively.
Vaccines have also been distributed to:
Cordillera - 25,600 doses
Ilocos - 38,800 doses
Cagayan - 31,980 doses
Mimaropa - 25,000 doses
Bicol - 34,000 doses
Western Visaya - 47,160 doses
Eastern Visayas - 27,650 doses
Zamboanga - 30,000 doses
Northern Mindanao - 39,400 doses
Caraga - 23,740 doses
BARMM - 18,400 doses
The DOH said current deployment is still limited to frontline healthcare workers, or Priority Group A1 under the government’s prioritization framework.
Some government officials, however, have also been inoculated.
Healthcare workers are given the option between the CoronaVac, an inactivated vaccine manufactured by Sinovac Biotech, and the Covid-19 AstraZeneca Vaccine, an adenovirus-vectored vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and University of Oxford.
The first vaccines to reach the Philippines were the 600,000 doses of CoronaVac donated by China, which arrived on February 28, 2021.
Two shipments with a total of 525,600 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines donated through the Covax facility arrived on March 4 and 7.
Both vaccines are administered in two doses. The second dose is given 28 days later for Sinovac and 12 weeks later for the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Meanwhile, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said in a television interview that he has signed a supply agreement with the Serum Institute of India (SII) for 30 million doses of Covovax, the vaccine developed by Novavax and manufactured by SII.
“Naging maganda ang resulta ng pagbiyahe natin sa India no’ng isang linggo. Doon, napirmahan na po namin ang supply agreement kung saan ang Serum Institute of India ay magsu-supply ng 30 million doses ng Novavax sa ating bansa,” he said.
He said these are expected to arrive in the country in the third and fourth quarter of 2021.
Galvez also said he was in talks with Bharat Biotech for at least 8.0 million doses of its vaccine candidate.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to issue an emergency use authorization for the Novavax vaccine.
So far, the FDA has approved the vaccines from Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinovac for emergency use in the Philippines. (Marites Villamor-Ilano / Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo / SunStar Philippines)