The Department of Health (DOH) said that 85 percent of the country's healthcare workers have already been vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

DOH Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said there were 1,340,337 healthcare workers who got their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 581,797 have completed the two-dose regimen.

The other 15 percent who are still unvaccinated are healthcare workers mostly assigned in the provinces, said Cabotaje.

“Ang karamihan po iyong mga nasa probinsiya, kailangan natin pong hikayatin iyong ating mga barangay health workers, iyong ating mga members ng ating Barangay Health Emergency Response Team, medyo nag-aatubili pa sila (Most of them are in the province. We need to encourage our barangay health workers, our members of our Barangay Health Emergency Response Team because they are still a bit reluctant),” she said during a public press briefing.

“So kailangan talagang kumbinsihin (We really need to encourage them), these are mostly in the provinces and in the regions,” she added.

Cabotaje also noted that “97 percent” of the healthcare workers in the National Capital Region (NCR) have been vaccinated.

A4 priority sector

Local government units (LGU), meanwhile, may decide which group under the A4 priority sector or essential workers will get inoculated first against the viral illness if the vaccine supply remains insufficient.

Citing data from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Cabotaje said that there are about 13 million people under the A4 priority sector in the NCR Plus bubble, where the vaccination of the said sector will be initially prioritized.

Under the A4 sector, there are 17 subgroups of essential workers.

“So kung hindi talaga kakayanin kung 13 million ang ating estimate for the A4, ang gagawin niyan, ipa-prioritize ng mga LGU kung sino iyong kailangan nilang unang mga mabakunahan sa ating A4 (So if we can't vaccinate the estimated 13 million people under the A4 sector, the LGUs may prioritize who need to be vaccinated first among those under A4),” said Cabotaje.

“We will leave it to the LGU to strategize, sino ba ang most at risk, most vulnerable sa mga A4 depende sa kanilang mga lokalidad (who is the most at risk, most vulnerable among the A4 group, depending on their localities),” she added.