THE National Government is confident it will reach 54 million fully vaccinated individuals by the end of 2021, Cabinet Secretary and acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles said Tuesday, December 14, 2021.
Nograles said the goal is achievable especially with the second round of the National Vaccination Days in some areas on December 15 to 17.
Some areas to be affected by the upcoming weather disturbance will hold the second round of the national vaccination drive on December 20 to 22.
As of December 13, Nograles said that 54,914,819 individuals have received their first dose of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines, while 41,513,071 have already completed their vaccination.
Of the total 97,237,440 Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the Philippines, 8.01 million doses were administered from November 29 to December 1 during the first leg of the vaccination drive.
The number of doses administered rose to 9,937,827, as the vaccination drive was extended until December 3.
In a separate briefing, National Task Force deputy chief implementer Secretary Vince Dizon said the focus of the upcoming three-day vaccination drive (November 20-22) are the areas with below 50 percent fully vaccinated target population. These include Nueva Ecija, Zambales and Quezon.
He said he will visit the said provinces to help local governments encourage more people to get vaccinated.
During President Rodrigo Duterte’s Talk to the People Address on Monday evening, December 13, National Task Force (NTF) chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. reiterated that the country has sufficient supply of Covid-19 vaccines that even the next administration no longer has to worry about it.
"Nakumpleto na po ang ating vaccine up to the middle the year of 2022. Ibig sabihin ang procurement and other donations, 'yung incoming president po wala na pong problema sa vaccines kasi yung ating ginagamit na vaccine, yung nagdedeliver ngayon para po next year na po yon," Galvez said.
"Kasi 158 (million) po yun, 108 (million) lang kailangan natin for this year, yung idedeliver natin dun more or less 78 million, ito po malalaman na po natin for next year. Makikita na planstado na po ang ating procurement and other deployment to 2022 year of administration," he added.
According to the NTF, a total of 158,540,170 vaccine doses arrived in the country as of December 13.
Over eight million more vaccine doses are expected to arrive by December 14.
Galvez said for this week alone, the Philippines is expected to receive a total of 24,473,800 vaccine doses.
He said these vaccines will expire in 2023.
"We might decide because of steady supply, before the end of the year, we might expand the boostering to the general population," said Galvez. (SunStar Philippines)