582,500 AstraZeneca shots procured by private sector arrive in Philippines
MANILA, Philippines — A shipment of 582,500 doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine procured by private firms arrived in the Philippines on Friday.
The shots landed this morning at Terminal 1 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport aboard China Airlines flight CI 701, as shown on a live stream by state media.
This is the latest shipment in partial fulfillment of the 2.6 million doses purchased by private firms through a tripartite agreement with AstraZeneca and the Philippine government inked in November 2020.
Since the government launched its inoculation campaign in March, it has fully vaccinated 12.88 million Filipinos or 11.81% of the country's total 109 million population. Some 16.25 million or 14.9% of Filipinos have received a first dose of the vaccine according to data as of August 18.
Officials are racing to fully vaccinate at least 50 to 60 million people by yearend, a goal already downgraded from their previous target of vaccinating 70 million Filipinos to attain herd immunity before the year is out. — Bella Perez-Rubio
A new thread on the Philippines' vaccination program in 2021 in the government's revised objective to reach "population protection." Bookmark our COVID-19 and Vaccination Dashboard for the latest figures on the pandemic in the Philippines. — Main image: The STAR/Michael Varcas, file
Senior citizens and frontline health workers may now get their second booster shots, particularly mRNA jabs such as Moderna and Pfizer, the Department of Health announces. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
The Department of Health – 9 (DOH) reported a very low turnout for the third phase of the National Vaccination Day against COVID-19 in the Zamboanga Peninsula region.
Angeline Jaldon, DOH-9 information officer, said based on the report of the Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (RESU), only 16,976 or 10% of their target 169,764 eligible individuals showed up.
Jaldon said the low turnout was attributed to complacency and lack of interest to get inoculated.
The DOH regional office is looking into what strategies local government units used to convince constitutents to get vaccinated.
The low turnout may also have kept Zamboanga Peninsula among the areas in Mindanao at high risk from COVID-19. —The STAR/Roel Pareño
The Department of Health – 9 (DOH) reported a very low turnout for the third phase of the National Vaccination Day against COVID-19 in the Zamboanga Peninsula region.
Angeline Jaldon, DOH-9 information officer, said based on the report of the Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (RESU), only 16,976 or 10% of their target 169,764 eligible individuals showed up.
Jaldon said the low turnout was attributed to complacency and lack of interest to get inoculated.
The DOH regional office is looking into what strategies local government units used to convince constitutents to get vaccinated.
The low turnout may also have kept Zamboanga Peninsula among the areas in Mindanao at high risk from COVID-19. —The STAR/Roel Pareño
The Philippines will roll out its vaccination program for children aged 5 to 11 years old on February 4.
The pandemic task force says Pfizer vaccines exclusive for kids will arrive this week.
The percentage of the population with full vaccination has reached almost 50% at 53 million, says National Task Force adviser Dr. Ted Herbosa.
In an interview with dzBB, Herbosa suggests that five million more have yet to receive their second vaccine dose.
"Around 58 million have received at least the first dose of the vaccine against COVID-19 and 4.7 million have been jabbed with a booster," he says in Filipino.
View the COVID-19 and Vaccination Dashboard for the latest figures on the pandemic in the Philippines.
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