BAGUIO CITY (PIA) - - National Task Force for Coronavirus Disease Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez, in a virtual meeting, expressed  gratitude to all the Regional Vaccination Operations Centers  nationwide  as the national vaccination program reached 5.4 million eligible population for the whole month of June and that the vaccines administered already breached the 12 million mark.

 Galvez also called on RVOCs for their continuing support with around 14.7M doses of vaccines expected to arrive this month. The NTF COVID-19 through the National Vaccination Operations Center targets to inoculate around 8 to 10M eligible population   this July.

The Secretary said 1,124,100 doses of AstraZeneca donated by the Japanese government arrived  in July 8 and another 2M AstraZeneca doses from the COVAX along with the 170,000 doses of Sputnik V  procured by the government are expected to arrive Friday (July 9).

Deliveries of Sinovac, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson COVID – 19 vaccines are also expected this month.

Galvez assured fair distribution of vaccines to the different regions as well as equitable access for islands and hard- to- reach areas to ensure the protection of people especially those in the vulnerable sectors.

Meanwhile , NVOC Chairperson and Department of Health Undersecretary Dr. Myrna Cabotaje told RVOCs to remind local vaccination implementation teams on the importance of administering the second dose of vaccines to vulnerable population especially the senior citizens given the threat of the COVID 19 Delta variant.

Cabotaje  reported that  of July 7 data, there are already 12,489,772 vaccines administered to eligible population in the  A1 to A5 priority groups, of which  9,399,801 are vaccinated for first dose and 3,089,976  for second dose.

For Cordillera, based on July 6 data of the RVOC, there are 163,379 eligible populations from priority A1 to A5 groups who got their first dose of COVID – 19 vaccine and 59,785 of them already completed their 2 - dose vaccination.

 The region already utilized the 155,233 allocated for the first dose of vaccines to the different provinces/cities in Cordillera and is now administering the second dose of vaccines following the required schedule or interval between doses, pending the new allocation and deployment of vaccines. (JDP/CCD-PIA CAR)