Over 500K vaccinated on first day of national vax drive

The Philippines has administered a total of 547,628 jabs so far on the first day of the three-day national vaccination drive, far from the three million target per day, according to the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC).

In a video update, NVOC chairperson Myrna Cabotaje said only 903 out of 1,600 local government units have submitted reports.

Cabotaje said some LGUs were unable to accommodate walk-in patients, others experienced an overwhelming response, and some LGUs had difficulty submitting reports.

“Unang-una, hindi po ma-accommodate ng ating LGUs yung mga walk-in in some areas pati yung ating pediatric population dahil siguro sa hindi available yung bakuna o nag-schedule sa ibang araw,” she said.

(First of all, some walk-ins were not accommodated, including our pediatric population, because of the lack of available vaccines, or they were scheduled on other days.)

She urged children who were not accommodated to schedule an appointment.

“Baka ang ginawa ng ibang LGUs dyan, they grouped together the children using the Pfizer. In some areas baka hindi pwede ‘yung Pfizer and Moderna this time,” she said.

(Some LGUs could have grouped the children using Pfizer. In some areas, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines may not be available.)

According to Cabotaje, LGUs may extend their hours and add more teams to address the challenges.

“Ang adjustments natin, we will look at how the reporting will be better done. We will look at bakit mababa ‘yung submission or ‘yung transmission (and why submissions are low),” she said.

Cabotaje will release another update at 8 p.m.—LDF, GMA News