Philippines records highest daily COVID-19 jabs at over 1.2 million —Galvez

The Philippines administered a total of 1,239,981 doses of COVID-19 vaccines on November 11, the highest daily vaccination so far, the National Task Force (NTF) against COVID 19 said on Friday.

Latest data from the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) recorded a total of  1,239,981 jabs on November 11 — 698,500 for first dose, and 541,481 for second dose.

“We are very pleased to see that the hard work, determination and concerted effort from all sectors of society has paid dividends and is bringing us closer to our goal of achieving 1.5 million daily jab rate,” vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said in a statement.

“The upward trajectory of our daily jab rate, along with the downtrend in the number of COVID-19 cases are solid proof that we are on the right track to a sustainable recovery,” he added.

Galvez said at least one million doses were also administered for two consecutive days in the country, adding that a total of 1,052,600 doses were administered nationwide on November 10.

He expressed optimism on the country’s growing vaccine inventory with the help of local government units’ faster inoculation rollout.

According to NVOC, a total of 37,036,577 doses have been administered as first dose, while 31,020,380 Filipinos are now fully vaccinated as of November 11.

The vaccine czar said 121,979,340 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been delivered to the country since February.

He added that the Philippines is also expecting the arrival of at least 46 million more doses in the coming days.

Galvez bared that the inoculation of the booster shots for healthcare workers and the third dose for immunocompromised individuals will also help to ramp up the vaccine rollout within this quarter.

He said the country's Food and Drug Administration is set to release the amended Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the COVID-19 vaccines, as the World Health Organization - Strategic Advisory Group of Experts is also nearing the completion of  its recommendation for the administration of booster shots and third doses.

“We are anticipating all these regulatory requirements to be released soon as the Department of Health is already finalizing the policy guidelines for the booster shots and third dose,” he added.

The NTF said over five million people are expected to be eligible for booster shots and third doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

Last November 4, the Philippines had also administered at least 1.11 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in a single day since the vaccination program started last March 1.—LDF, GMA News