MANILA, Philippines — The Senate, meeting as the Committee of the Whole, holds a hearing on Tuesday morning on the National COVID-19 Vaccination Program as the government rolls out the inoculation of workers in the A4 priority category this month.
The rollout of the vaccination program has hit some delays, particularly in supply although shipments continue to come in. The government has trumpeted that the Philippines is second in Southeast Asia in total doses administered.
Related Stories
Data provided by international think tank Our World in Data this month however shows that the Philippines has vaccinated only about 4.23% of its total population as of June 8, with 6.31 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered so far.
This puts the Philippines eighth among 10 Southeast Asian nations in terms of vaccinating its whole population.
The Palace said that the government's decision to highlight the figure that makes it look better is not spin. "It's just two ways of looking at the numbers. One is absolute numbers, and we remain second. There is no deception. And another is a percentage number which depends on your population," the president's spokesperson said Monday.