DESPITE DELAYS in deliveries, the Philippines is ranked fourth among Southeast Asian countries in terms of Covid-19 vaccine rollout.
Based on the April 22 data of Bloomberg and Foreign Service Posts, the Philippines is running fourth behind Indonesia, Singapore, and Myanmar in the vaccination program.
The Philippines began to roll out Covid-19 vaccines on March 1, starting with healthcare workers (A1 priority group).
About 86 percent or 3,025,600 out of the 3,525,600 doses of the country's available vaccines have been distributed nationwide, particularly in high-risk areas.
As of April 28, a total of 1,809,801 doses of both CoronaVac and AstraZeneca jabs have been administered – 88 percent or 1,562,815 doses of which were first shots while 246,986 doses or 14 percent were second shots.
The initial batch of 15,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine, to be distributed to the five regions for the initial rollout, will not arrive Wednesday due to “logistical challenges,” Malacañang said.
“We confirm that logistical challenges resulted in the delay of the arrival of 15,000 trial order of Sputnik V,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press statement.
The delivery was canceled because there are “no direct flights from Russia.”
The National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 reported that there are 3,415 vaccination sites currently operating in the country's 17 regions as of Tuesday.
To date, the government is also vaccinating the A2 (senior citizens), and A3 (persons with comorbidities) groups.
NTF chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. sees vaccination significantly increasing as soon as the bulk of Covid-19 jabs arrive by the second quarter of this year.
“By June, we can open vaccination for our productive population, with the government and economic front-liners, as well as the indigent population," he said.
Galvez said the Philippines had already secured about 140 million doses this year, excluding 44 million doses acquired through the COVAX facility. (By Lade Jean Kabagani)
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