PASIG CITY (9 December 2021) — With the major milestones achieved under the country’s national vaccination program, a better Christmas for all Filipinos is now at hand this year.

This was the assurance made by National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito G. Galvez, Jr. following the successful conduct of the first National Vaccination Days (NVD) from November 29 to December 3.

In a span of five days, the country was able to administer 10,254,560 doses. This is equivalent to a daily average jab rate of 2,050,912 doses, the highest recorded since the national vaccination program was rolled out in March.

“Kung matatandaan niyo, nangako po si Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte na magkakaroon tayo ng mas masayang Pasko ngayong taong ito,” Galvez said during the culmination program of the Bayanihan, Bakunahan vaccination program on Thursday.

“Sa patuloy na pagbaba ng mga kaso ng COVID-19 sa ating bansa na kung saan ang ating positivity rate ay mas mababa pa sa 3 percent, natitiyak namin na maisasakatuparan ang pangako ng ating mahal na Pangulo,” he added.

The Philippines has recorded an average daily caseload of below 500 over the past several days, which is a significant drop from the thousands of daily cases registered during the surge of Delta variant infections just a few months ago.

But with the country’s expanded vaccination rollout and more responsive pandemic response and mitigation measures, the government has managed to bring down the nation’s infection rate to a threshold set by the World Health Organization.

“Ang sabi nga ni Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion, ang Pilipinas ang isa sa mga pinakaligtas na lugar sa buong mundo na maaaring puntahan upang magdiwang ng Pasko. Nakikiisa kami sa paniniwalang ito ni Sir Joey.” Galvez said.

As of December 7, the Philippines has already administered a total of 93,687,341 vaccine doses. Of this number, 53,841,469 have been given as first doses while 39,236,194 are now fully vaccinated.

Galvez said he is confident the Philippines will achieve population protection before the year ends by realizing its target of fully vaccinating at least 54 million Filipinos.

The vaccine czar emphasized that the aggressive rollout of the government’s vaccination program is among the measures undertaken by the government to prepare the country for the entry of the Omicron variant.

“Bagamat patuloy ang pagbaba ng ating mga kaso, mas kailangan natin ang ibayong pag-iingat laban sa mas nakahahawang sakit,” Galvez said.

“Kasabay ng ating mas pinalawak na vaccination drive, mas mahigpit na border control, pagpapalakas ng ating healthcare system at pandemic response efforts, at pagsunod sa minimum public health standards, amin pong hinihiling ang patuloy na suporta sa paghikayat sa ating mga kapamilya, kaibigan at katrabaho na magpabakuna na,” Galvez added.

The national government earlier announced that it is mounting another leg of NVD from December 15 to 17 as part of its efforts to further scale up the vaccination throughput of local government units nationwide.

Galvez said he is hopeful that government line agencies, LGUs and private sector partners will be able to replicate the success of the first NVD so that more Filipinos will be protected nationwide against the virus.

“At magpapatuloy ang ating pagbabayanihan. Pupuntahan natin ang bawat sulok ng bansa upang maihatid ang mga bakuna at maiturok ito sa braso ng ating mga mahal na kababayan,” he said.

“Inaasahan namin na ganito din ang suportang inyong ibibigay sa ikalawang yugto ng ating malawakang vaccination drive na gaganapin mula December 15 hanggang 17,” Galvez added. ###