National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. (PNA file photo)
MANILA – The Philippines has administered a total of 5,455,346 doses in June alone, allowing it to hit the 12-million mark in vaccinations against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
"Ito po ‘yong record po natin na sa isang buwan nakapag-(bakuna) po tayo ng 5.4 million. At ngayon umaarangkada na po tayo, mahigit isang milyon, limang araw pa lang po ng July, ay nagpapatunay ito na tumataas na rin ang kapasidad ng ating local government units at saka ‘yong sa ating mga probinsiya (Our record shows that we had 5.4 million in just a month and we are now moving toward more than 1 million in just five days of July, this proves the increasing vaccination capacity of our local government units and those in the provinces)," National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. reported to President Rodrigo Duterte late Tuesday.
Galvez, also the vaccine czar, said the country's vaccination program is running smoothly despite the limited vaccine supply.
"We have recorded the highest output during the weekends ngayong linggo dahil sa pagtaas ng capacity ng ibang lugar at pagbibigay po natin ng supply sa ibang mga areas dito sa Visayas, Luzon at saka po sa Mindanao (this week because of the increased capacity in some places and deployment of supply in other areas in the Visayas, Luzon and Mindanao)," he said.
Meanwhile, Galvez apologized for the delay in the delivery of Covid-19 jabs which has been affecting the speed of the vaccination program.
"Humihingi po kami ng pasensiya na hindi po natin mapigilan ang delay ng deliveries na nakapag-slowdown sa ating rollout (We apologize for the uncontrollable delay on our deliveries that slowing down our vaccine rollout)," said Galvez.
The supposed delivery of the 170,000 doses of Russian-made Sputnik V vaccines in the Philippines on Wednesday night was deferred again due to logistical issues.
So far, the Philippines has received a total of 17,455,470 Covid-19 vaccine doses.
The government is expecting the arrival of 1,124,100 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines donated by the Japanese government on Thursday, followed by the delivery of 2,028,000 doses of AstraZeneca jabs from the World Health Organization-led COVAX Facility on Friday.
Galvez said the country may receive more or less 16 million doses this month, including the 3,024,000 single-shot doses of Janssen vaccines, developed by Johnson & Johnson.
He added the Philippines is slated to get 14 million doses next month, bringing the total number of Covid-19 vaccines in the country to 47 million doses by the end of August. (PNA)
