DOH: Gov’t may fall short of 5M target for 3rd nat’l vax drive

The Department of Health (DOH) said on Thursday the government may not achieve its target of vaccinating five million more Filipinos despite already extending the third wave of its mass vaccination drive.

At the Laging Handa briefing, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje admitted that the third “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” still has a slow turnout amid its one week extension, having only vaccinated 2.6 million people so far.

"Medyo matumal pa rin ano. We are reaching about 2.6 million pa lang, eh dalawang araw na lang, ngayon at saka bukas. Kailangan paspasan pa. So baka hindi natin maabot ‘yung ating 5 million na target," she said

[It is still slow. We are reaching only about 2.6 million when we only have two days left. We need to speed up the vaccination more. We may not reach our 5 million target.]

The Bayanihan, Bakunahan III, originally scheduled from February 10 to 11, was extended to  February 18.

Aside from the primary series, Cabotaje said many people have still not received their booster shots.

“Nakikita nila ang importansya, na importante ito pero kulang ‘yung tinatawag na urgency. Hindi nila nakikitang kailangan magpa-booster kaagad [They see the booster’s importance, but they lack the urgency to get it. They don’t see the need to get a booster right away],” she added.

Cabotaje said the government is looking to amp up the vaccination drive in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Region 5, Region 7, Region 8, and Region 12.

The National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 earlier said they will go to the BARMM to increase the COVID-19 vaccination drive there, it being the region with the lowest vaccination rate.

Cabotaje noted that there are 61.9 million Filipinos fully vaccinated as of Wednesday, February 16. Of this number, 9.3 million have received their booster shots after reaching the three to six month requirement.

Pediatric inoculation

Further, Cabotaje said the rollout of vaccines for aged five to 11 has been good so far with about 55,000 doses being administered per day.

As of Wednesday, she noted there are 263,932 kids in the said age group nationwide who have received their first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

“Walang serious na side effect pero may walong kaso tayo ng non-serious adverse events sa ating mga nabakunahan,” she said, noting that the effects included rashes, itchy throat, pain in injection site, fever, and vomiting.

[There were no serious side effects but we have recorded eight cases of non-serious adverse events among our vaccinated kids aged 5 to 11.]

She also reminded the local government units that the supply for the said age group is still limited as of the moment.

The pilot rollout of COVID-19 vaccination for five to 11 years old in the country started in the National Capital Region (NCR) on February 7.

Meanwhile, Cabotaje added that health experts are still evaluating COVID-19 vaccines for aged 4 and below, based on studies from other countries.

“Ang isang problema natin, wala din pa tayong local EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) holder na nag-apply sa ating Philippine FDA (Food and Drug Administration) para sa bakuna ng 0 to 4,” she said.

[One of our problems is that we still don’t have a local EUA holder applying in the Philippine FDA for the vaccination of 0 to 4.]

The Philippines on Thursday registered 2,196 new COVID-19 cases bringing the nationwide caseload to 3,646,793. — RSJ, GMA News