The Department of Health (DOH) wants more vaccination sites opened as more vaccines arrive in the country.
In a televised public briefing, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said 1,000 vaccination sites were reporting daily. At an average of 100 people daily, there should be 100,000 people getting shots every day, she said.
“Currently, we have around 1,000 [vaccination sites] na nagrereport [and] if they have 100 [people] per day, magkaka- 100,000 tayo,” she said.
The country has received more than seven million doses of Covid-19 vaccines as of May 12. The DOH aims to reach an average of at least 70,000 jabs per day for the month of May.
Concerns over the distribution of vaccines were raised by Manila Mayor Isko Moreno and former coronavirus task force adviser Dr. Tony Leachon, as 1.5 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines were set to expire in June.
“We are still at 40-60k vaccination per day. At this rate can never finish the AstraZeneca 1.5M stocks that will expire in June,” Leachon tweeted last May 11.
Moreno complained over the deployment of vaccines by the national government, saying distribution was “very slow” despite the local governments’ readiness.
Cabotaje said the vaccines also had to be distributed to other regions besides the “NCR-Plus,” or Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite and Laguna.
“We know that the vaccines arrive in tranches, and we cannot give everybody at the same time,” Cabotaje said.
The DOH reported that as of May 11, 2,539,693 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered. Isabell Andrea Pine