The Philippines has at least 15 million people fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Malacañang said on Monday, as the country battled a surge in infections linked to the contagious Delta coronavirus variant.
Authorities have administered 35,838,964 COVID-19 shots, of which around 20.8 million were first jabs, said Palace spokesman Harry Roque.
At least 15,044,354 people have been fully immunized so far, he said in a press briefing.
Government aims to vaccinate up to 70 million people before the year ends to achieve herd immunity and safely reopen the economy.
Meanwhile, private medical cold chain firm Pharmaserv Express Inc. gave assurances Monday no COVID-19 vaccine was wasted since the inoculation’s rollout earlier this year.
The firm made the statement after a Health department official mentioned during a Congressional hearing that 4,500 doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been wasted but stressed that the “figure is still relatively low."
“As the national logistics partner of the Department of Health, Pharmaserv Express has ensured that no COVID-19 vaccine has been wasted from storage to careful packing and distribution to LGUs since April 2021,” Pharmaserv President Andrian Perez said in a statement.
The firm was tapped by the government as a cold chain facility and logistics partner in the vaccination program.
Meanwhile, a party-list lawmaker sought an investigation into what she called the "slow" acquisition of anti-COVID vaccines by the government.
AAMBIS-OWA Rep. Sharon Garin, in filing House Resolution 2154, noted that 53.911 million Filipinos had yet to be vaccinated. She added the figure proved the government had a long way into achieving its desired 70.851 million vaccinees needed to achieve herd immunity.
"It’s been almost two years and the country is still in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic with the target of 70 million Filipinos to be vaccinated to achieve that much coveted herd immunity seemingly still out of reach," she said.
The DOH reported during its budget hearing at the House of Representatives that the handling of cold-chain facilities for COVID-19 vaccines has remained "very well-managed."
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said that from March to August 20, 2021, the DOH recorded 4,528 total wastages in doses, which she described as “very low.” However, she did not mention when or where the wastage happened.
“From Day One of the country’s vaccine rollout, Pharmaserv Express assures the Filipino people that we have always ensured the vaccines we have handled are intact and maintained,” Perez said.
Based on the company’s previous experience working with government agencies and private institutions, Perez said the firm “will continue to work hard to provide quality and dependable cold-chain management service to every Filipino family, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic.”
Pharmaserv worked with the DOH and UNICEF in the campaign to stop the measles and polio outbreaks that both occurred in 2019 in various parts of the country.
Due to its timely and efficient delivery of vaccines even to far-flung areas of the Philippines, the company helped end the polio outbreak this year.
The firm has also provided the cold-chain and logistical needs of various private pharmaceutical companies in the past years.
Three months ago, visiting medical experts from Israel were impressed with the company's facility in Barangay San Roque, Marikina City.
The foreign delegates were also satisfied after observing how the government's private partner stores and packs sensitive vaccines that will be delivered to various parts of the country.
The Israeli delegation is composed of Adam Segal, logistics and operations manager of Salomon Levid and Elsein Ltd; Dafna Segol, consultant of Healthcare Policy and innovation; and Avi Ben Zaken, deputy director general of the Ichilov Medical Center.
The three visited the country to help the Philippine government in its ongoing vaccination efforts against the deadly coronavirus disease.
Israel is one of the countries that has lifted restrictions, such as its outdoors face mask policy, after successfully inoculating the majority of its population.
In her resolution, Garin directed the House Committee on Economic Affairs to conduct an inquiry into the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines by local government units and the private sector through the multi-party agreements, "with the end in view of ramping up vaccination in rural areas and in the private sector and achieving herd immunity against COVID-19 for the country."
Republic Act 11525 or the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021 was enacted to address the adverse impact of COVID- 19 through the procurement and administration of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines by the National Government, Garin said.
The law also provides the legal mechanism for local government units and the private sector to source and procure, through the Department of Health and the National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF), safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines.
Garin stressed this was timely considering that the Food and Drug Administration of the Philippines granted the vaccines now available for Emergency Use Authorization due to expire after a year.
"There are already a number of LGUs and 300 private sector companies which have availed and signed the Multi-Party Agreements through the Department of Health and Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease to procure COVID-19 vaccines with an estimated 10 million doses for their constituencies as provided for in RA11525," she said.
Reports said these MPAs submitted by LGUs and the private sector have been left unsigned and are languishing in the IATF, directly affecting the speedy vaccine roll-out in the country.
"As such, there is a need for more transparency and more government information as to the allocation and coverage of the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out, particularly in the provinces and in rural areas," Garin said.
"Considering the recent surge of COVID-19 cases attributed to the more transmissible Delta variant and the confirmation of the first local case of the Lambda variant in the country, all efforts, and support to ramp-up vaccination against COVID-19 should be welcomed and acted upon promptly by the concerned government agencies," she added.