The Covid-19 vaccination turnout remains lower than what the government wants it to be because of the hesitancy of many less informed Filipinos on certain irrelevant issues, particularly among the elderly.
Data from the National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 showed that of the fully vaccinated individuals nationwide as of September 24, a total of 2,242,931 are healthcare workers (A1); 433,396, senior citizens (A2); 6,282,480 adults with comorbidities (A3); 5,307,222, essential front-liners (A4); and 1,770,301, indigents (A5).
Among the first-dose recipients are 2,533,544 from A1; 3,522,588, A2; 5,8847,346, A3; 8,895,442, A4; and 2,718,947, A5.
Despite opening the vaccination program to this priority group (A2) in April, the turnout has remained lower than the NTF’s earlier projections.
NTF chief Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said there is a need to address vaccine hesitancy as there are emerging variants of the Covid virus that pose serious threats to the country’s economic recovery.
The Department of Health and local government units now wage an information campaign to clamp down misinformation about the vaccines and urge the public to get vaccinated for their own good.
The business sector now also helps the government and encourage people to get Covid-19 jab shots through incentives like discounts and shopping rewards.
To date, the Philippines has received 66,699,340 doses of Covid-19 vaccines of various brands, 43,464,197 doses of which have already been administered nationwide as of last Friday.