Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 and the designated vaccine czar, welcomed the latest ranking of the Philippines in the Covid-19 recovery index of a Tokyo, Japan-based business publication.
The Nikkei Covid-19 Recovery Index showed that for the month of May, the Philippines ranked 33rd out of 121 nations in terms of infection management, vaccine rollout, and social mobility amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Galvez said this was a “complete turnaround” from the country’s ranking in September 2021 where it was at the bottom of the list.
This means that the Philippines already outranked several developed countries in terms of Covid-19 response including Italy (34th place), Switzerland (38), Israel (44), Japan (53), United Kingdom (58), Canada (60), Australia (71), New Zealand (75), Singapore (79), US (89), China (93) and Russia (111), according to Galvez.
“The Philippines’ current position in the Nikkei Asia’s Recovery Index report for May 2022 is a clear indication that the Philippines has found its footing and is now on the path towards recovering from the pandemic. In fact, the Philippines is recognized as one of the two countries in Asia, aside from Vietnam, which registered the best performance for the month of May,” Galvez said in a statement Monday, June 6.
According to the Nikkei Recovery Index, the Philippines has moved up in its ranking due to a consistent decrease in the country’s daily cases to below 200 with low to no fatalities reported in recent weeks.
The report also recognized the country’s easing of restrictions to fully vaccinated international tourists since February, and the removal last week of the negative RT-PCR result requirement for foreigners with booster shots. The easing of restrictions led to the high record number of tourist arrivals over the past few months.
Galvez attributed the feat to the national government’s aggressive efforts to build an "Immunity Wall'' across the country through the national vaccination program, and the development of a whole-of-society response to the pandemic.
“I would also like to encourage all unvaccinated Filipinos to have yourselves fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and avail of the booster shots to achieve full protection against the virus. The NTF is confident that the incoming administration will build upon the gains we have achieved and lead the country towards full economic recovery,” he said.
In a Cabinet meeting with President Duterte on Monday night, Galvez revealed that the country has so far received 245,083,080 vaccine doses, of which, 151,222,684 doses were already administered.
A total of 69,487,920 individuals have already been fully vaccinated or 77.20 percent of the government’s target population of 90 million Filipinos.
Meanwhile, around 67 million individuals have received their first dose, 14.3 million have been injected with a booster shot, and 407,074 more were given a second booster dose.
“Based on our honest to goodness assessment, our best case scenario before your administration ends will be 75,053,047 with at least one dose and 70,087,920 who are fully vaccinated,” Galvez told Duterte.