The Department of Health (DOH) said about 12 percent of senior citizens in the country have been vaccinated so far since the COVID-19 vaccination program started last March.
DOH Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega said that there is a need to speed up the vaccination of the priority groups, especially the senior citizens.
“Ang mga senior citizens, ito yung mababa, nasa nine to 12 percent palang so medyo kailangan natin bilisan ito kasi ito yung mga vulnerable, itong age group na ito na 60 and above (The vaccine turnout for senior citizens is still low, it's only nine to 12 percent so we need to speed it up a bit because these are the vulnerable, this age group of 60 and above)," said Vega in a radio interview on Sunday, May 30.
"Kailangan natin hanapin yung mga matatanda para mabakunahan kasi kailangan natin mai-prevent yung death sa age group na ito. Malaki pa naman ang population nito (We need to find the senior citizens for them to be vaccinated because we need to prevent death in this age group)," he added.
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Based on the recent DOH data, there have been 1,174,191 senior citizens who got their first dose of COVID-19, while 195,952 have been fully vaccinated as of May 25.
Vega said that the estimated population of senior citizens in the Philippines is about 10 to 12 million.
"So, malayo pa tayo, so kailangan aggressive talaga ang paghahanap sa mga senior citizens para sa bakuna (So, we are still far, so we need to aggressively search for senior citizens to get them vaccinated)," he added.
A special lane for the top three priority sectors (A1 to A3) will be set up in the different vaccination centers, said Vega. These cover healthcare workers, migrant workers, senior citizens, and people with comorbidities, said Vega.
The vaccination of those under the A4 priority group or essential workers will formally start in June.
Vega said that it is important to vaccinate first those 40 years old and above under the A4 priority group.