MALACANANG (28 September 2021) –The number of partially and fully-vaccinated individuals against COVID-19 in key cities and provinces across the country continues to increase following the recalibrated supply allocation strategy implemented by the national government.

This development was highlighted by the National Task Force against COVID 19 Chief Implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. in his report during President Rodrigo Duterte’s Talk to the People address aired on Tuesday.

“Tumataas na po ang percentage ng fully-vaccinated sa mga regions. Humahabol na sila sa [vaccination output] National Capital Region (NCR),” Galvez said.

As of September 27, seven regions have vaccinated more than 20% of their target population.

These are the Cordillera Administrative Region (28.13%), Region XI (25.44%), Region IV-A (24.96%), Region 3 (22.71%), Region VII (22.27%), CARAGA (21.31%), and Region VI (20.40%).

To date, 44,361,285 vaccine doses have been administered nationwide, of which 23.77 million doses were given as the first shot.

The number of fully vaccinated individuals in the country currently stands at 20,583, 580.

More than seven million residents or 72.43% of the NCR’s target population is already fully-vaccinated, while 85.77% have received at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Galvez noted that the administration of the first and second shots of the vaccines have improved in many regions as well as key cities throughout the country.

The percentage of partially vaccinated individuals in various regions ranges from 13% to 32% of their respective target populations, except for the BARMM, which currently stands at 5.93%.

Meanwhile, major cities particularly in the Visayas and Mindanao, have breached the 35% mark in terms of fully-vaccinated individuals.

Iloilo City has completely inoculated 62.05% of its target population. Angeles City, Mandaue City, Lapu-Lapu City have fully vaccinated more than 50% of their target population.

Other key cities in the country such as Cebu City (48.84%), Legaspi City (36.18), and Davao City (35.80%) are also catching up.

Galvez said that about 90% of the vaccine deliveries for September have been allocated for provinces outside the NCR.

“Tataas po itong ating administration this coming October considering that we still have more or less seven million [doses] to be added to the month of September and first week of October,” he said.

According to the vaccine czar, the national government aims to administer 10-15 million doses by October and bring the total number of fully-vaccinated individuals to about 25 to 26 million.

Expanding the vaccine rollout

Meanwhile, NTF Deputy Chief Implementer and testing czar Secretary Vivencio Dizon expressed optimism on the continued expansion of the country’s vaccination coverage, as the total number of vaccines delivered to the Philippines since February is expected to reach 100 million doses by the end of October.

“Ang critical po sa atin ngayon for the month of October and moving into the last three months of the fourth quarter of 2021 is ‘yung pag-open up po natin kagaya ng sinabi ninyo noong nakaraang linggo na we will already look at — seriously look at opening up to the general population, especially in the major areas all over the country, and also equally important is the opening up to the vaccination of our children,” said Dizon.

Galvez earlier announced that “supply permitting,” the vaccination for the younger population may begin by mid of October, while the general population will start by November.

The expansion of the vaccine rollout will start with the children of healthcare workers, as well as teenagers aged 12 to 17 years old who have comorbidities.

The Philippines has so far received 69,699,340 COVID-19 vaccine doses since February. An additional 6.7 million shots are confirmed to arrive this week.

By October, Galvez said that more than 30 million procured and donated vaccine doses are expected to be delivered by different manufacturers. END