The Philippines has already administered more than six million COVID-19 vaccine doses --- three months after its vaccination program started, an official of the Department of Health (DOH) said on Wednesday, June 9.
DOH Director Napoleon Arevalo, during the Laging Handa public briefing, said that 6,314,548 vaccine doses have been administered nationwide. Of the total, 1,681,722 individuals are now fully vaccinated while 4,632,826 people received their first dose.
Of those who have received their first COVID-19 jab, 1,412,187 are medical frontliners, 1,622,613 are senior citizens, 1,568,809 are persons with comorbidities, and 29,217 are essential workers.
For the fully vaccinated, 886,420 are healthcare workers, 415,540 are senior citizens, 373,493 are people with comorbidities, and 6,269 are essential workers.
Arevalo assured that more supplies of COVID-19 vaccines will be distributed in the different local government units (LGUs) in order to continue their vaccinations.
This month, a total of 10 million vaccine doses are expected to arrive in the country, he said.
Some LGUs reportedly halt their first dose vaccinations due to supply shortage.
“May darating din po tayong karagdagang bakuna at ito po ide-deploy kaagad sa ating mga vaccination centers (Additional vaccines will be coming and these will be deployed immediately in our vaccination centers),” said Arevalo.
“So, nararanasan po natin ito na pagtigil sa pagbabakuna dahil na rin sa ating limitadong supply (So, we are experiencing this halt in vaccination because of our limited supply),” he added.
The Health official also reminded LGUs to still prioritize those under the A1 to A3 sectors or healthcare frontliners, senior citizens, and individuals with comorbidities.