MANILA – A total of 1,744,649 Filipinos have been vaccinated at least one dose against the coronavirus, with 320,586 persons fully vaccinated, a health official reported Wednesday.
In a televised public briefing, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said those who have received the required two doses of Covid-19 jabs belong to the A1 group or healthcare workers at 284,065; A2 or senior citizens, 4,966; and A3 or individuals with comorbidities, 31,555.
"Nasa 2,065,235 million na ang naabot nating jabs kahapon. All doses. Nagsimula na tayo para sa A4 noong May 1st para sa ating (The total doses administered until yesterday is 2,065,235. We started vaccination for the A4 on May 1 for our) labor force," Cabotaje said.
The country has received a total of 4,040,600 doses of Covid-19 vaccines since February with the arrival of CoronaVac and AstraZeneca jabs, either government-procured or donated. On May 1, another 15,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccines arrived and more are expected within the month.
Data from Our World in Data show that the Philippines is fourth among Southeast Asian nations with the most number of vaccination doses administered.
As of May 3, Indonesia has administered 20.17 million vaccination doses; Cambodia 2.41 million; Singapore 2.21 million as of April 18; followed by the Philippines with 2,065,235 as of May 4.
Cabotaje said the vaccines have been deployed nationwide, but a bulk went to the so-called NCR Plus consisting of Metro Manila and the provinces of Rizal, Laguna, Bulacan, and Cavite where most of the Covid-19 cases have been reported.
"Ang naiiwan na lang diyan ay buffer para sa ating (All these were deployed in the different parts of the Philippines, most of them in the NCR Plus, the remaining are for the buffer at the) National Vaccination Operation Center," Cabotaje said.
As for the Sputnik V vaccine rollout Tuesday, Cabotaje reported about 2,634 doses have been administered -- Parañaque, 2,100; Manila; 165; and Makati, 369.
Apart from an ultra-cold storage requirement for the Russian-made vaccine, Cabotaje said certain precautions must be observed when administering the vaccine.
"Ilalabas mo, ito-thaw o paiinitin hanggang sa matunaw 'yan, it takes about 5 minutes per thawing bago mo i-inject (You need to thaw it when you take it out of storage, it takes about 5 minutes per thawing before you can inject it)," she said.
"Kapag nilabas mo na ang bakuna hanggang two hours, pwede pa siya iturok tapos kapag nilabas mo na siya hindi mo siya pwede ibalik sa freezer o sa cold chain. Hindi mo na siya magagamit, itatapon mo na 'yun (You can inject the vaccine up to two hours from the time you took it out from storage and you can't put it back to the freezer or cold chain, you can't use it anymore. You have to throw it)," she added. (PNA)
