2.3M COVID-19 jabs administered on second day of nat'l vax drive

The government administered 2.3 million COVID-19 jabs on Tuesday, the second day of the three-day national vaccination drive, according to testing czar Vince Dizon Wednesday.

“For the numbers for November 30, yesterday, we’re roughly at 2.3 million but we expect this to go up even more in the coming hours as we get more reports especially from rural areas,” Dizon said in a CNN Philippines interview.

Dizon said this was on top of the 2.708 million doses recorded on the first day, November 29. The country has then inoculated at least 5 million individuals during the first two days of the “Bayanihan, Bakunahan."

“Vaccinating 2.7 million doses in a day is not a joke. It's very, very difficult, that's why not a lot of countries can do it. Based on the number we’re seeing, I think for a single-day vaccination rate, the Philippines is probably in the top five in the world,” he said.

According to Department of Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, the other countries with a higher daily vaccination output were China (22 million doses); India (10 million); and the United States (3.48 million).

“Everybody said that vaccine hesitancy is so high, that people don’t want to get jabbed, but I think our bayanihan spirit has really shown us that if we work together especially under the leadership of President Duterte, that him egging on everyone to get vaccinated has proven that we can get things done,” he said.

The task force has adjusted its target vaccination output for the three-day vaccination drive from 15 million to 9 million due to shortage in ancillary supplies, particularly syringes.

“While it’s true that we haven’t reached the 3 million target, like you said 2.7 million on the first day, is not bad and it just really motivates us more to get things working and just working together shows that we can get this done,” Dizon said.

There will be another national vaccination drive on December 15 to 17 to help reach the government target of fully vaccinating 54 million Filipinos by the end of the year.

Dizon said that the government still needs to work on the logistical challenges of transporting the vaccines to all islands and regions of the country and informing everyone of the right time, place, and process of getting vaccinated to further ramp up vaccination during the second leg. 

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier declared November 29, 30, and December 1 as Bayanihan, Bakunahan National COVID-19 Vaccination Days.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said that around 8,000 vaccination sites have been activated nationwide while 20,000 volunteers, including those from the uniformed service, were tapped for the three-day vaccination initiative.

The vaccination drive covers the general population, minors aged 12-17 years old, and booster shots for healthcare workers, senior citizens, and immunocompromised.

Booster shots in December

Dizon said that the government is just finalizing the guidelines following the announcement by Galvez on Sunday that the government is eyeing a December start for the booster vaccination of fully vaccinated government workers and economic frontliners. 

“We have already decided because we already have enough supply both in country and forthcoming incoming in the coming weeks and months that boosters for everyone will be opened if you’re already six months and beyond of the second shot,” Dizon said.

He said that the country has already received 142 million COVID-19 doses from various brands. Of which, 40 million are in stock while over 20 million more are expected to arrive in December.

“Supply is no longer a problem, this is why we are now more aggressive not just in vaccinating first and second doses, but also the booster shots especially given the threat of Omicron looming over the entire world,” he added.

The government initially wanted to finish the booster shots for health workers, senior citizens, and immunocompromised. They are targeting to vaccinate all children before the end of the year, as well as 80% to 90% of teachers and students to be ready for possible full reopening of schools next year.

Omicron threat

Further, Dizon emphasized border control to delay the entry of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, which was suggested to cause a higher risk of reinfection based on preliminary evidence, into the Philippines. 

The public must also continue practicing the minimum public health standards and take the vaccine against COVID-19.

“The most important interventions are first and foremost, we have to speed up vaccination which is what we’re doing and we’ll continuously do that. Second, is really making our people understand that what we're wearing right now, our masks, are really the most effective way of preventing transmission,” he said.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III has already said the entry of the Omicron variant into the Philippines is not a matter of if but when.

Dr. Rontgene Solante, chief of the Adult Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine unit at the San Lazaro Hospital, said that Omicron is “not weaker” than the Delta variant.

“This is the first time that we’ve seen a variant of concern wherein you have, to be exact, 32 mutations in the spike protein and these are really significant that it can be highly transmissible and it can also affect our vaccines,” he said.

Solante, however, clarified that the vaccines are not all ineffective against Omicron because, out of these 32 mutations, nine overlap with the Alpha, Gamma, and Delta variants.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified Omicron as a variant of concern, but it is not yet clear if this is more transmissible compared to other variants or if it causes a more severe disease.

The countries of Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy have been added to the red list, which initially included the south African nations of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Mozambique. —AOL/VBL, GMA News