PH vaccinates 9.9M in extended nat’l vax drive

MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday said a total of 9,937,827 were vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) during the five-day national vaccination drive.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the campaign was a “huge success” as the country was able to breach its target to inoculate at least nine million people.

“‘Yung unang tatlong araw naka 8.01 million tayo na nabakunahan but with this extension, ito pong dalawang araw na extension natin, nakapagdagdag tayo ng 1.9 million na pagbabakuna pa (For the first three days, we were able to vaccinate 8.01 million but with this extension, we were able to add 1.9 million more),” she said in a Laging Handa briefing.

Vergeire said the country also recorded its highest number of daily jabs at 2.82 million.

The inoculation campaign, originally set for November 29 to December 1, was extended for two days until December 3. Another leg is scheduled to be held from December 15 to 17.

As the country seeks to achieve population protection as soon as possible, Vergeire urged local government units to accept vaccinees even without prior registration.

“Kung saka-sakaling pupunta na ang ating mga mga kababayan sa vaccination sites sana po payagan na natin silang mabakunahan kahit hindi sila nakapag-register because we lose the opportunity if we still send them home (If ever a person is already inside the vaccination site, we hope that the local government will all them to get vaccinated even if not registered because we lose the opportunity if we send them home),” she said.

The Philippines has so far secured 146 million doses of vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), of which over 90 million have been administered.

The latest data from the DOH showed that 37.56 million people have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 while 443,985 received their booster doses.