PH Fails to Reach 5 Million Vaccination Target, Eyes House-to-house Jabs

The third round of the Philippines’ national vaccination drive dubbed “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” was only able to inoculate approximately 3.5 million individuals, failing to reach the government’s goal of 5 million. Department of Health Undersecretary and spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire noted that there was a significant lack of health workers, especially as the vaccination program started to include children aged 5-11 years old.

“Hindi lang din naman COVID-19 vaccination ang ginagawa, may ginagawa rin na health-related work,” said Vergeire. “Itutuloy-tuloy lang natin ang pag-ramp up ng vaccination so that we can be able to cover as much of the population as possible.” (“They’re not only focused on COVID-19 vaccination, there are also other health-related works. We will continue to ramp up our vaccination so that we can be able to cover as much as possible.”)

Dr. Ma. Paz Corrales, the medical consultant for the National Task Force Against Covid-19, elaborated in a separate statement that other challenges contributed to the government’s failure of reaching its target. Vaccine hesitancy is still rampant alongside post-calamity effects, particularly after Typhoon Odette devastated certain provinces in Visayas and Mindanao.

“There were a lot of factors that is why we were not able to reach the target. One is the occurrence of Typhoon Odette and its affected areas. Then most of our health workers were afflicted with Covid-19 and there’s a little percentage of vaccine hesitancy.”

In this light, Vergeire added that the government will continue to reevaluate its vaccination efforts moving forward with the aim of bringing the program closer to communities. One strategy that is being considered is to hold house-to-house vaccination during days deemed for national vaccination.

“Mag-strategize po tayo,” she added. “Mukhang na-maximize na natin itong strategy na fixed vaccination sites, baka magkaroon na ng mixed strategy na mag-house-to-house, go to far flung areas. Baka ito na ang susunod na intervention para sa pagbabakuna.” (“We have to strategize. It looks like we have maximized this strategy of fixed vaccination sites, maybe we have to adopt a mixed strategy to go house-to-house, go to far-flung areas. This may be the next intervention for vaccination.”)

Nonetheless, around 62.3 million Filipinos have already been fully vaccinated since the program was launched in March 2021. An additional 9.6 million have also received their booster shots and 395,000 children in the 5-11 age group have likewise had their first dose of a vaccine.

Sources: CNN PH, Philippine News Agency