More than 41 million Filipinos already vaccinated

MANILA – The Philippines has administered 41,247,552 doses of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines nationwide as of Sept. 18, the National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF) reported on Sunday.

Based on the National Covid-19 vaccination dashboard data, there are 22,771,602 Filipinos who have received the first dose while 18,475,950 are now fully protected against the dreaded disease.

The average daily doses administered in the last seven days stood at 374,612 doses.

The Philippines’ jabs stockpile has 59,359,810 doses, with an additional 3 million of Sinovac and 2,020,590 Pfizer vaccines to be delivered on Sunday night.

In an interview over the weekend, vaccine czar and NTF chief Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said the government aims to fully vaccinate over 20 million by end of September.

He added the government is expecting a higher turnout from over 2,000 operating vaccination sites nationwide as regions and provinces have expanded their rollouts to essential workers and indigent residents.

“This is a testament that our vaccination program is on track and is continuously scaling up despite the multiple challenges we have faced in the past weeks,” Galvez said earlier.

In the coming weeks, the Philippines will also receive 12 million doses of government-procured Sinovac, 10 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech through the COVAX Facility, 5 million doses of government-purchased Pfizer, 4 million doses of government and private sector-procured Moderna, 1 million doses of Sputnik Light, 1 million doses of the private sector and LGU-procured AstraZeneca, and 1 million doses donated by a partner country.

The government targets to vaccinate 70 percent or 77,139,058 Filipinos out of its estimated 110,198,654 population.