Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 10) — The government aims to vaccinate 250,000 to 300,000 people a day once the bulk of the COVID-19 vaccines arrives in the country, an official said on Wednesday.
National Task Force against COVID-19 Deputy Chief Implementer Vince Dizon said the target is achievable if the shipments are delivered as promised, but he also stressed there remains to be a problem with global supply.
“Ang target natin ay roughly 250,000 to 300,000 a day pero ito ay depende sa supply na makukuha natin,” he said in a media briefing. “Pagdating natin sa punto na nagvavaccinate na tayo ng general population, aabot po tayo sa ganitong numero.”
[Translation: Our rough target is 250,000 to 300,000 per day but this will depend on the supply. Once we vaccinate the general public, we will reach this number.
The government’s goal for 2021 is to inoculate 50-70 million people. The government has vaccinated 44,000 so far, mostly healthcare workers.
The Philippines has received a total of 1,125,600 doses of the Sinovac and AstraZeneca brands, which were donations from China and a number of European nations through global initiative COVAX facility. The country is set to get 117,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines by late March or early April and an additional 4.5 million additional doses of AstraZeneca vaccines by April or May through COVAX.
