The national government is planning to conduct a national vaccination day against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) “within this month.”
Dr. Ted Herbosa, special adviser of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, said the nationwide immunization day is tentatively set on November 20. He said this will be similar to the anti-polio and anti-measles programs that are being done by the Department of Health (DOH).
“Pinaplano namin maghold ng national immunization day for COVID-19 para magamit ang napakaraming bakunang dumating. Sabi nga, 108 million doses na ang naparating ni Sec. Galvez Jr. dito. Ang stockpile ay lampas 50 million na (We are planning to hold the national immunization day for COVID-19 to use the bulk of vaccines that have arrived. We have 108 million doses that Sec. Galvez brought here. The stockpile is more than 50 million already),” Herbosa said.
“Within this month so November 20 siguro ang pinaplano. Nationwide ito ( within this month, probably on November 20 based on the plan. This will be nationwide,)” he added.
The NTF adviser made the announcement during the arrival of 2.7 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine from Russia at NAIA Terminal 2 around 3 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 2.
A total of 1.35 million doses will be used as first dose while the remaining 1.35 million doses will be for second dosing.
The recent delivery brought the total vaccine supply to 108,912,460 doses. Around 49 million doses are stored in government warehouses while 59 million doses have been administered.
A total of 32,030,693 individuals have received their first dose while 27,442,969 have been fully vaccinated as of November 1.
“It is a confirmation that the Russian Federation would like to help the Filipino people in the struggle against this very cunning and very deadly disease,” said Russian Ambassador to the Philippines Marat Pavlov.
Meanwhile, the vaccination of the pediatric sector – regardless of medical condition – will be rolled out in Metro Manila on Wednesday, Nov. 3, according to Herbosa.
It will then be expanded to other regions on Nov. 5 and among the initial target sites are Clark, Pampanga in Central Luzon (Region 3) and Baguio City in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
The inoculation of the pediatric sector was initially launched in Metro Manila last Oct. 15 but the target population only included those with comorbidities or underlying medical conditions.
As of last week, more than 40,000 pediatrics have already been vaccinated against COVID-19. This will be further increased as the government opens the vaccination program to all children and adolescents.
“We would like to encourage the local government units to fasttrack the vaccination of all Filipinos who haven’t vaccinated yet. Hinihimok ko po kayo na paspasan ang pagbabakuna. Sa hindi pa nababakunahan, magpabakuna na po tayo (I urge you to speed up the vaccination program. To those who have yet to be vaccinated, get it now),” said Assistant Sec. Wilben Mayor, head of NTF's sub-task group on current operations.