MANILA – A third edition of the national vaccination days is another strategy the Philippine government is looking at in case it misses its target to fully vaccinate 77 million people before April.
Acting Presidential Spokesperson and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles on Wednesday noted that the government would also have to see the output of its current “vaccination demand generation” efforts.
“[I]f we see the need, halimbawa matatapos na ang first quarter ng 2022 at hindi pa nararating ‘yong 77 million (for example we haven’t reached the targeted 77 million before the first quarter of 2022 ends) then perhaps it’s one of the strategies na i-co-consider natin (that we would consider),” he said in a television interview.
The first three-day massive vaccination drive from November 29 to December 3 last year was hailed as a success, wherein about 9.9 million people received the life-saving coronavirus shots.
More than 7.4 million doses, meanwhile, were administered during its second run from December 15 to 17 despite the challenges posed by the onslaught of Typhoon Odette.
Nograles said the national government is determined to reach the 77 million target of complete doses before the elections, hopefully, by end of March.
“This is what we are pushing, to reach 77 million, if not by the end of the first quarter of 2022 at least before the May election, our target is to fully vaccinate the adult population,” he said in Filipino.
As of January 18, the country has administered 120.6 million doses and fully vaccinated over 56 million people.
The average daily dose in the last seven days is currently pegged at 762,526, according to the Department of Health’s Covid-19 Vaccination Dashboard. Among the fully vaccinated, a total of 5,362,518 have received their booster shots.