Gov’t misses target of 500K daily jabs by August due to manpower shortage

COVID-19 testing czar Secretary Vince Dizon on Wednesday admitted that the government has failed to meet its target of administering 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines a day for the month of August.

“We have administered 13.7 million doses for August, and this translates to 450,000 doses on an everyday basis,” Dizon said.

“Napakabigat po talaga ng hamon dahil sa surge nga po ng mga kaso, our vaccinators are the same health workers, doctors na nag-aalaga sa mga pasyente sa mga ospital, sa isolation centers [It is really a tough challenge because the vaccinators are also the health workers taking care of COVID-19 patients amid the surge in cases],” he added.

Dizon said that the government wants to increase the number of daily doses administered by tapping medical students, in coordination with the Commission on Higher Education.

“Gusto natin madami pa [ang maibakuna natin] (We really want to increase the number of vaccine doses we administer on a daily basis),” Dizon said.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said that the target of administering 500,000 doses a day should be met by August.

Dizon said Wednesday that 13.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered in August is still higher than the 10 million doses administered in July.

The government’s COVID-19 vaccination program started on March 1.

Around 13.7 million Filipinos are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, way behind the target of fully vaccinating 76.3 million people by the end of the year to achieve herd immunity. — BM, GMA News