Out of the target three million vaccinations, around 2.5 million Filipinos have been inoculated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on the first day of the National Vaccination Days on Monday, Nov. 29.
This was reported by vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Tuesday morning, Nov. 30, when he led the second day of the immunization drive at the Bulacan Capitol Gymnasium in Malolos, Bulacan.
“The latest report that we have right now is as of 5 a.m. (Tuesday), mayroon tayong 2,454,157 doses ang total na na-administer (we have a total of 2,454,157 doses that we administered),” he said.
The output was short by around 500,000 from the target three million vaccinations. However, it was double compared to the output during the ordinary days of vaccination where only around one million jabs are being administered per day.
Galvez deemed the first day of the vaccination day as “successful” since majority of the administered jabs were for first dosing.
“The good this is that 2,048,000 iyong first dose (2,048,000 jabs were administered for first dose). Ang ating (Our) objective is to really accelerate the first dosing,” he explained.
There were also around 354,000 doses that were administered as second dose while around 50,000 doses were given as booster shots.
“With this, we have seen that our objective is being achieved considering that we are trying to collect all those unvaccinated. Malaking accomplishment na iyon (It is really a big accomplishment),” Galvez said.
Among the good performing regions were Calabarzon (Region 4A) with 366,711 administered vaccines; Central Luzon (Region 3) with 297,316 doses; Western Visayas (Region 6) with 192,216 doses; Central Visayas (Region 7) with 186,834 doses; and Bicol (Region 5) with 165,259 doses.
Meanwhile, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has the least vaccination turnout with around 39,000 administered vaccines out of its target 492,912 vaccinations.
Several issues were experienced on the ground such as vaccine hesitancy particularly on the senior citizens and geographical challenges such as in BARMM where most of the local government units (LGUs) are located in island provinces.
To achieve the succeeding targets, Galvez called on the public to continuously participate in the ongoing vaccination program.
“We encourage everybody to really build up the momentum,” he said.
The first leg of the program will last until December 1 while the second leg will be held from Dec. 15 to 17.