MANILA – The Philippines has vaccinated 127,614 workers a week since the national government began inoculating Filipinos employed in essential sectors.
The government earlier said some 12 million from Metro Manila, Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, Rizal, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao will be prioritized in the inoculation of essential workers.
“Ang challenges natin aside sa supply is ‘yung pagpapatupad ng minimum health protocol,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online press conference.
(Our challenge aside from supply is the implementation of minimum health protocols.)
“We have seen crowding these past days because of the vaccination. Nakita natin ‘yung kasabikan ng ating mga kababayan na sila ay mabakunahan,” she said.
(We saw the eagerness of our countrymen in getting vaccinated.)
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said the Philippines is seeing “the light at the end of the tunnel” as the country continues to protect government and private workers against the disease that has infected at least 1.2 million Filipinos.
The government needs to vaccinate 70 percent of the 110 million Filipinos to attain herd immunity by the end of the year.
Vergeire said the Philippines has already vaccinated 9.8 percent of the target percentage of the population that needs to be inoculated.
“We need to be careful in interpreting data. We compute based on the targeted 70 percent of the population,” she said.
As of June 8, the Philippines has fully vaccinated 1.6 million people, while 4.6 million others have received their first dose.
