MANILA -- The country’s vaccination program has reached new milestones this week with nearly 30 million or 29,127,240 total vaccine doses administered and 12,877,197 fully vaccinated individuals as of August 18, 2021, said Presidential Spokesperson Secretary Harry Roque Jr.

The Palace official urged the public to register with their local government units (LGU) to have themselves vaccinated, citing further that for those who are fully vaccinated, only 0.23 percent have reported adverse reactions to vaccines, most of which were mild and were immediately resolved.

“Hindi nila kinailangan maospital. Ibig sabihin po yung mga adverse reaction sa bakuna halos wala po at napaka-mild lamang kaya wala pong dahilan para matakot kayo sa mga bakuna,” remarked Secretary Roque.

The concurrent spokesperson of the Inter-Agency Task Force also reminded the public that all vaccines being administered are safe and effective and have been approved for emergency use by both the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization.

“Doon naman po sa mga walang untoward reaction, huwag ninyong isipin na hindi po gumana ang bakuna dahil sa totoo lang po lahat ng bakuna ay ligtas at epektibo,” said Sec. Roque.

The Palace spokesperson noted that while many individuals are having themselves vaccinated, more vaccine doses are coming in the country. Roque mentioned that a total of 365,040 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines procured by the national government arrived yesterday, August 18, 2021, including the 51,480 doses that were deployed in Cebu.

Roque also announced that some 3 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine procured by the government is set to arrive later today, August 19, while 582,500 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines procured by the private sector are expected to be delivered tomorrow, August 20.

The spokesperson added that also expected to arrive tomorrow, August 20, is the 739,200 doses of vaccines from Sinopharm that was donated by the government of China.

On updates in testing, National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF) Deputy Chief Implementer Secretary Vivencio “Vince” Dizon reported in the said press briefing that current 7-day moving average for testing in the period of August 11-17, 2021 is at 60,000 tests, with a peak testing data of 67,000.

Meanwhile, on vaccination, Sec. Dizon added that as of date, some nine million jabs have been recorded for the month of August, with 500,000 average jabs. For the National Capital Region, 3.2 million jabs have been recorded as of date for August, with an average of 178,000 jabs per day this month. Dizon reported that as of August 18, 2021, 41 percent of eligible population in the NCR are now fully vaccinated, and that the 50 percent target of fully vaccinated individuals in Metro Manila may be achieved by August 31, 2021.

Also in the same press briefing, Marikina City Mayor Marcelino Teodoro reported that 315,276 or 94 percent of the city’s target eligible population have been vaccinated, of which 185,283 or 55 percent of the eligible population are now fully vaccinated, as of August 18, 2021.

On the distribution of financial assistance to individuals and families affected by the imposition of the recent Enhanced Community Quarantine, Mayor Teodoro reported that the city government has distributed 58.89 percent as of August 18. Marikina’s total target of beneficiaries is 96,016 individuals, said Teodoro. (OPS-PCOO)