3.7M vaccinated so far during second vax drive —DOH

A total of 3.7 million individuals have been inoculated so far during the second round of the government’s vaccination drive against COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH) reported Tuesday.

Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said around 1.03 million individuals were vaccinated on Monday, bringing the total to 3,760,132 from December 15 to 20.

“Ang pinakamaraming nabakunahan kahapon ay 'yung ating mga second doses, almost one half ang ating mga second doses kahapon,” Cabotaje said at the Laging Handa briefing.

(Most of the doses we administered yesterday were for second doses, almost half.)

Of the 3.7 million, Cabotaje said more than 2 million were for second doses,  over 1.1 million were for the first dose, and around 289,000 were for booster shots.

“In terms of the sector, marami pa rin ang ating pediatric population, sumunod ‘yung rest of the adults tapos ‘yung ibang mga priority groups ay nababakunahan din,” she said.

(In terms of the sector, there is a lot of the pediatric population, followed by the rest of the adults. The other priority groups were also vaccinated.)

The Philippines seeks to fully vaccinate seven million individuals during the second vaccination days to reach the target of 54 million fully vaccinated Filipinos by the end of the year.

Based on the national COVID-19 vaccination dashboard, around 44.2 million have been fully vaccinated against the illness while 56.2 million have received at least one dose as of December 20.

According to Cabotaje, areas affected by Typhoon Odette such as Regions 6, 7, 8, and the Caraga region will start their vaccination next week.

“So ang ating pakiusap… i-ramp up nila kung saan pwede bilisan at damihan doon na lang babawi tayo sa ibang mga areas,” she said.

Meanwhile, she said a batch of AstraZeneca vaccines near expiry was used after the manufacturer provided stability data.

“‘Yun lang po una, ‘yung 1,000 ba ‘yun o 100,000, ‘yung AstraZeneca, kasi inaral ‘yun depende sa batch number naging stable. So pinag-aralan ng manufacturer tapos inaprubahan ng ating FDA,” she said.

(Only the first one. Was it 1,000 or 100,000, the AstraZeneca, because they studied it depending on the batch number. So the manufacturer looked into it and it was approved by the FDA.)

Around 14,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine near expiry were stored “with defined storage guidelines” in early December while the DOH coordinated with manufacturers.

“Sa iba, it is also being studied. Inaaral nila, nire-review nila ‘yung stability data para aprubahan o hindi 'yung pag extend ng kanyang shelf life,” she added.

(For others, it is also being studied and reviewed.)—AOL, GMA News