85% of health workers vaccinated — DOH

MANILA, Philippines — After almost three months, 85 percent of healthcare workers (HCWs) have been vaccinated against COVID, the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday.

Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said 1.34 million health care workers have been given COVID jabs and 581,797 of them have completed the two doses.

“A majority of those vaccinated are what we consider priority A1. Almost 85 percent of the A1 or the masterlisted health care workers got their first dose,” Cabotaje said at a public briefing.

She said most of those vaccinated are in the National Capital Region with 97 percent.

She stressed the need to convince frontliners in the provinces, including barangay health workers and emergency response teams, to have themselves immunized against COVID.

When it comes to the A2 priority group or the senior citizens, a dismal 12 percent received the vaccines.

“We really need to push our A2 vaccination and also the A3,” Cabotaje said, referring to people with comorbidites.

DOH data show only 1.17 million senior citizens have received their first doses while 195,952 got two doses.

On the other hand, a total of 941,091 of the A3 group have been vaccinated and only 250,777 of them have completed the two doses.

The country’s vaccination rollout started on March 1.

A4 jabs in June

As this developed, Cabotaje said the inoculation of A4 or “frontline personnel in essential sector” may start by the first week of June in the NCR Plus 8, which pertains to the National Capital Region, Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Cebu, Davao, Laguna, Pampanga and Rizal.

On Labor Day, the government conducted a ceremonial vaccination of A4 by giving doses to some 5,000 workers.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the government is still formulating the guidelines for the A4 vaccination.

She said those in the A4 category could not be given the vaccines donated by the COVAX Facility of the World Health Organization.

“We need to abide by the condition of WHO when it comes to COVAX vaccines. Our vaccination should be aligned with the framework of the WHO for distribution and allocation of the vaccines,” she said.

Vergeire said the vaccines donated by COVAX should be given only to the A1 to A3 priority groups, which are most vulnerable to the virus.

Meanwhile, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) expressed support for the proposed expansion of the A4 category priority for COVID vaccination.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said it is important to inoculate all essential workers aside from health care workers.

“It is important to vaccinate our workers. No matter how strict our health protocols, vaccination is still the best protection for our essential workers,” Bello said yesterday.

“Whether classified as a frontliner or not, you should be vaccinated,” he added.

Bello appealed to workers not to be choosy and just have themselves inoculated with any COVID vaccine available to them.

He said all vaccines that are being provided by the government in the ongoing immunization program are safe and could give protection against the virus. – Mayen Jaymalin