COVID JAB. Gemma Colcol, nurse supervisor at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City, gets vaccinated with CoronaVac on March 1, 2021. A total of 193,492 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered so far, mostly to medical front-liners, nationwide, the Department of Health said. (PNA photo by Oliver Marquez)
MANILA – A total of 193,492 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered as of March 13, mostly to medical front-liners nationwide, even as the number of confirmed infections continues to rise, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.
“So far, we have administered a total of 193,492 doses in the country, and 90 percent of our stocks have already been distributed to the vaccination sites,” DOH Health Promotion Bureau and Disease Prevention and Control Bureau Director Beverly Ho said in an online media briefing.
The nation started its vaccination program on March 1, a day after the arrival of 600,000 doses of CoronaVac vaccine donated by the Chinese government.
The vaccination program was given a boost when on March 4 and 7, about 487,200 and 38,400 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines, respectively, through COVAX Facility arrived.
Healthcare workers who have been on the frontlines battling against the pandemic since 2020 are prioritized in the vaccination rollout.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. and DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III are set to present the country’s Covid-19 vaccination program data to President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday afternoon.
As of March 13, the DOH reported that the total number of infections among healthcare workers has reached 15,188.
The general public may have access to the Covid-19 vaccines starting last week of April or first week of May, Galvez said earlier. (PNA)
