Of the country's initial 1.1 million vaccine supply, around 44,000 doses have been administered since the government's immunization started early this month, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. announced Monday, March 8.
According to Galvez, vaccine uptake has also increased as more medical frontliners have agreed to get inoculated to boost protection against the coronavirus illness.
"So kung makikita po natin ang ating global vaccination, mayroon na po tayong 300 million-plus. At ngayon po, Mr. President, ay tumaas po ‘yong tinatawag nating daily rate natin na 7 million (If we look at our global vaccination, we have 300 million-plus. Right now, Mr. President, our daily rate increased to 7 million)," he said during a meeting with President Duterte and some officials on pandemic response Monday, March 8.
"And then ang nakakatuwa po ay nakasama na po ang Pilipinas sa mga numero at mayroon na po tayong more or less 44K na doses na na-administered. At ‘yong ating doses ay na-deliver na po sa mga vaccination sites, mga 463,000 plus (And then, it's gratifying to see the Philippines is part of this number. We have more or less 44,000 doses administered. Around 463,000 doses have been delivered to vaccination sites)," he said in his remarks aired on state television.
The Philippines has so far received 1,125,600 million doses of coronavirus vaccines developed by Sinovac and AstraZeneca, according to Galvez. The 600,000 Sinovac vaccines were donated by China while 525,600 doses came from the World Health Organization's COVAX facility.
Around 20 million additional doses of vaccines are expected to be delivered to the country from April to June this year, Galvez added.
After the initial hesitancy towards the Chinese-made vaccines, Galvez highlighted that more people are becoming confident in getting inoculated against the coronavirus virus. He said they have received mounting requests for vaccine supply.
"Noong nagkaroon po tayo ng vaccination ng --- ng ating mga director ng mga hospital, tumaas po ang level ng ano ng kanilang confidence. In fact, doon sa Northern Mindanao Medical Center, almost --- halos 100 percent ‘yong ano ‘yong nagpapabakuna na (When we had vaccination of hospital directors, the level of public confidence has increased. In fact, in Northern Mindanao Medical Center, almost 100 percent got vaccinated)," he said.
"Halos araw-araw marami pong nagre-request ng mga vaccine. Ibig sabihin po, Mr. President, talagang tumataas na po ’yong ano ‘yong tinatawag nating uptake o ‘yong tinatawag nating --- tumaas na po ‘yong --- ‘yong kagustuhan ng mga --- ating mga kababayan na magkaroon na po ng --- ng bakuna (Almost everyday, many have requested for the vaccines. This means, Mr. President, that the uptake has increased, the willingness of our people to get vaccinated has increased)," he added.
The government has prioritized the vaccination of health frontliners in the rollout of the life-saving drugs. Some government officials however have also taken the vaccine during the launch of the program last week supposedly to help enhance public confidence in the immunization drive.