(Eagle News) – The third wave of the national vaccination, dubbed Bayanihan Bakunahan, will be extended until February 18, the Department of Health said.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that so far in the last two days of national vaccination, from February 10 to 11, around 1.3 million had been vaccinated.
The numbers are still far from the target of five million individuals that the Philippine government seeks to vaccinate in this third installment of the national vaccination campaign.
Vergeire said they extended the vaccination days so that more people would be reached by the campaign. Those who want to avail of the primary doses as well as booster doses could go to the various vaccination sites nationwide.
“Tuluy-tuloy po yung ating Bayanihan Bakunahan 3, kung saan inextend po natin hanggang February 18 ang ating target dates para po mas marami tayong mabakunahang mga kababayan,” she said in a Laging Handa briefing on Saturday, February 12.
The DOH spokesperson said that the vaccination teams have been tasked to comb areas with low vaccination rates, so they could administer jabs house-to-house to those who want to get vaccinated.
“Ngunit ang ating mga teams wre mobilized already para galugarin talaga, mag-bahay-bahay, sa mga lugar na mababa po ang vaccination rate,” Vergeire said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) had earlier urged the Philippine government to prioritize the vaccination of some 2.5 million senior citizens who have not yet received any Covid-19 vaccine.
The acting WHO country representative Dr. Dr. Rajendra Yadav pointed out that the elderly are the most vulnerable sector of the population, and is where most of the Covid-19 deaths come from.
The elderly with comorbifities are susceptible to having severe Covid, being hospitalized and dying from the disease.
“With fewer restrictions and high mobility happening now, we could be putting our unvaccinated senior citizens at risk of hospitalization and death,” Yadav said.
“We appeal to the governors and mayors to do everything in their power to vaccinate our priority groups as soon as possible. We need to vaccinate the high priority groups before another variant causes another surge,” he said.
Initially, the third Bayanihan Bakunahan campaign was scheduled for two days, from February 10 to 11.
(Eagle News Service)