Malacañang is upbeat about the country's vaccination prospects despite missing its goal of administering nine million coronavirus disease (COVID-19) jabs in its just concluded national vaccination days.
In a virtual press conference Friday, Dec. 3, Cabinet Secretary and Acting Presidential Spokesperson Karlo Nograles described the three-day "Bayanihan, Bakunahan" event, which officially ran from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1, as "successful".
According to Nograles, 2.7 million individuals were vaccinated on the first day (Nov. 29), 2.4 million on the second day (Nov. 30), and 2.8 million on the last day (Dec. 1).
"Suma-total, nasa mahigit 8.01 million ang total vaccines administered sa tatlong araw o katumbas sa 89.06 percent ng ating committed target (In total, over 8.01 million vaccines were administered during the three days, or equivalent to 89.06 of our committed target)," he said.
"Bago ang national vaccination day, pumapalo tayo ng higit 900,000 bawat araw. Kaya halos triple ang itinaas natin bawat araw (Before the national vaccination day, we were hitting 900,000 jabs a day. So we nearly tripled our output each day)," noted Nograles.
Nograles said that an average of 62 Filipinos were vaccinated per second during the three-day stretch, wherein each vaccination center operated for at least 12 hours per day.
"Tunay na lumalabas ang diwa ng pagbabayanihan ng lahat (Truly, the spirit of unity shines in us all) and we believe that we will do better in the second round of the national vaccination days this December, God-willing, at sa tulong ng taumbayan (and with the help of the people)."
Nograles earlier bared that the national government was looking at Dec. 15, 16, and 17 as the dates for the planned second round of the national vaccination drive.
He underscored that two important vaccination milestones were achieved during Bayanihan, Bakunahan event.
"First, we are the fourth highest single-fay jabs administered in the world. Second, we are no. 1 in terms of seven-day moving average jabs per 100 people per day across countries with a population of 100 million or greater," he said.
A target of 15 million jabs was initially set for the three-day affair, but this was downgraded to nine million just before Nov. 29.
Local government units (LGUs) were given the option to extend their national vaccination days up to Friday in order to accommodate more Filipinos who want to get protection from COVID-19.