NEARLY 2 million Filipinos have already been vaccinated against Covid-19 under the ongoing inoculation drive of the government, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
In an interview with PTV on Wednesday, National Vaccination Operation Center chairperson Myrna Cabotaje disclosed 1.7 million people already received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccines.
However, of these individuals, only 320,586 got their second dose making them fully immunized against Covid-19.
Cabotaje said 1.11 million of those vaccinated are health-care workers, followed by senior citizens (329,650), and those with comorbidities (293,312).
She noted that economic frontliners currently account for fewest number of vaccinated individuals with 7,342.
Chief implementer of the government’s national policy on Covid-19 Carlito G. Galvez Jr. said the consistent vaccination of economic frontliners will start next month with the expected arrival of the vaccines ordered by the private sector.
No adverse effect
In a related development, Cabotaje said the government already secured 4 million Covid-19 vaccines from pharmaceutical firms Sinovac Biotech; AstraZeneca, and Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology.
Of these vaccines, she noted the one from Russia’s Gamaleya, Sputnik V, is the latest. It arrived last Saturday.
Of the first 15,000 doses of Sputnik V, at least 2,634 were already administered in Parañaque (2,100), Manila (165), and Makati (269) last Tuesday.
No incident of severe adverse effect from the recipients of the vaccine was registered during the first day of its deployment, according to Cabotaje.
“For today [May 5], we will start vaccinating it in Taguig and Muntinlupa,” Cabotaje said.
Those who were given the Sputnik V are expected to get their second dose 21 days after their initial jab.
Cabotaje noted the government is conducting the limited deployment of Sputnik V vaccine to test its proper deployment, especially since it is the first Covid-19 vaccine handled by the government which requires a temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius.
“We have this precaution because once we [thaw] the vaccine, we only have two hours to inject it. After this, you could no longer return it to a freezer or cold-chain. So you will no longer be able to use it,” Cabotaje explained.
She said the government is targeting to deploy all of the 15,000 doses of Sputnik V within the month.
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