Some vax center health workers recalled to hospitals as cases surge —Herbosa

The government's initial target of vaccinating one million to 1.5 million Filipinos a day in the first quarter of 2022 has been hit by a setback, as many health workers at vaccination sites have been recalled to hospitals amid the surge in COVID-19 cases, a government adviser said.

During a Laging Handa virtual briefing, National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 special adviser Dr. Ted Herbosa said that several healthcare workers have either been transferred to COVID-19 wards or have been infected by COVID-19 themselves, amid a surge believed to be driven by the Omicron variant.

“Unfortunately, dahil sa ating surge ng COVID-19 cases, some of our doctors and nurses na nasa vaccination sites ay nare-recall doon sa mga COVID care areas or COVID wards,” he said.

“May vaccinators tayo, nurses, and doctors, nai-infect. So, nagku-quarantine sila nang ilang araw bago sila bumalik so bumabagal ‘yung ating vaccination rate,” he added.

(Due to the surge of COVID-19 cases, some of our doctors and nurses were recalled in COVID care areas or wards. Others got infected and had to undergo quarantine. This is why our vaccination rate is getting slow.)

The Philippine General Hospital on Monday said that almost 400 of its healthcare workers have tested positive for COVID-19, with 86 new cases on Sunday night.

52 million vaccination

A total of 52,393,229 Filipinos have completed their doses against COVID-19 as of Sunday, the Department of Health (DOH) also reported.

According to the DOH’s national COVID-19 vaccination dashboard, 113,364,030 total doses have been administered as of January 9. Of these, 57,643,385 were first doses while 3,327,416 were booster shots.

Herbosa noted that over 212 million COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in the Philippines.

“Meron pa rin tayong inallot na budget sa 2022 [we have also allotted a budget in 2022]—it’s really for the booster for about another batch of doses,” he said.

The NTF earlier recorded that of the 217 million secured COVID-19 vaccine doses for 2021, the country has received a total of 210.63 million doses from various manufacturers and other sources.

Herbosa added that the vaccines purchased by the government for children aged 5 to 11 years old will arrive by mid-January 2022.

These 50 million doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine are expected to be administered to the pediatric population by the first week of February, per DOH.

Last December 2021, the Food and Drug Administration approved the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer vaccine for ages 5 to 11.

Alert level 3

Currently, Metro Manila and the provinces Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal, and Laguna are placed under Alert Level 3 until January 15.

Fourteen more cities and provinces were placed under Alert Level 3 starting January 9 until 15.

Under Alert Level 3, several establishments are allowed to operate at 30% indoor venue capacity only for fully vaccinated individuals and 50% outdoor venue capacity, provided that all employees are fully vaccinated.

The Philippines on Monday again registered an all-time high new COVID-19 infections with 33,169, raising the Philippines' total caseload to 2,998,530. — BM, GMA News