Vaccinating nine million individuals in a span of three days will be the biggest and “most ambitious” program of the government to combat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Monday, Nov. 29.

Galvez made the remark as he attended the launching of the “National Vaccination Days” at SM Masinag in Antipolo City around 2 p.m. which was led by President Duterte.

“The National Vaccination days is very timely and truly a milestone in our COVID-19 pandemic response and mitigation efforts,” he said in his speech.

“This is by far the biggest vaccination event we have held since we rolled out the National Vaccination Program this year. Inoculating nine million individuals in three days across 16 regions with the help of the National Capital Region is our most ambitious target so far,” he added.

Dubbed as “Bayanihan, Bakunahan,” the three-day immunization drive aims to inoculate three million people per day or nine million people in total.

As of 1 p.m., at least 113,399 people have been vaccinated on the first day of the event.

“Through this event, we will show to the rest of the world that the Filipino people’s ‘bayanihan’ spirit lives on,” Galvez said.

The massive vaccination program is seen to help achieve the government’s target of administering first doses to 54 million people by the end of November, and fully vaccinating them by December.

The 54 million target is the lowered goal set by the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 after realizing that it could not achieve the original plan of vaccinating 77 million people – or 70 percent of the 110 million total population – by year-end to achieve population protection or herd immunity.

So far, the government has administered around 81 million doses out of the 142 million available supply. At least 45 million people have received their first dose while 36 million have been fully vaccinated.

“With the many milestones we have achieved in our vaccination program, we are very optimistic that we will be having a better and safer Christmas this year,” Galvez said.

The vaccine czar urged individuals who have not yet been vaccinated to participate in the ongoing National Vaccination Days especially since the detection of the new Omicron (B1.1.529) variant in some African and European countries.