240,297 health workers get first dose of COVID-19 vaccine

A total of 240,297 health workers have gotten their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine three weeks since the rollout, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said Wednesday.

Galvez said 20,233 more frontline workers were vaccinated on Tuesday.

All 1,125,600 doses have also been deployed to vaccination sites nationwide.

Meanwhile, Galvez said “more or less 5,000” minor adverse effects following vaccination have been reported.

Most of these cases experienced normal side effects like fever, he said.

The Philippines aims to vaccinate over 1.7 million frontliners by mid-April and begin inoculating the general public in the same month.

“Ang atin pong binigyan ng prayoridad ang ating medical workers upang pangalagaan ang integridad ng ating healthcare system lalo na po ngayon na tumataas po [ang kaso],” Galvez said during the Kapihan sa Maynila forum.

(We prioritized our health workers to ensure the integrity of our healthcare system especially now that cases are rising.)

The Philippines is seeing a surge in new COVID-19 infections, with active cases rising to 57,736 on Tuesday, the highest recorded this year.

The country has imposed a cap on international inbound passengers in a bid to combat the uptick in cases.—AOL, GMA News