The government may not attain its target of 5 million COVID-19 doses administered for its third national vaccination drive, an official from the Department of Health (DOH) said on Thursday, Feb. 17.
The third “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” program's goal, according to Health Undersecretary and National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) Chairperson Myrna Cabotaje during the Laging Handa public briefing, which was supposed to be reached last week Thursday, Feb. 10 and Friday, Feb. 11 and was extended this week, may not be achieved.
“Medyo matumal pa rin. We are reaching about 2.6 million pa lang no, eh dalawang araw na lang, ngayon at saka bukas. Kailangan paspasan pa (It's not going too well. We have reached about 2.6 million only and there's only two days left, today and tomorrow),” Cabotaje said.
"So, baka hindi natin maabot yung ating five million na target nung dalawang araw sana nung last week tapos inextend natin (We may not reach the 5 million target for two days supposedly last week which we extended)," she added.
On the other hand, Cabotaje also observed that people are not yet seeing the immediate need to get a booster shot.
"Medyo hindi pa ganun kabilis ang pagtanggap, especially the booster. Nakikita nilang importante ito pero kulang yung tinatawag na urgency. Hindi nila nakikitang kailangan magpa-booster kaagad (The prompt acceptance is not there yet, especially with the booster. They know it's important but they lack the urgency. They don't see the need to get a bosster shot already)," she said.
The country has so far fully-vaccinated a total 61.9 million people while 9.3 million has received booster shots.