It’s more than halfway into 2021, and the country is slowly but surely rolling out vaccines throughout the nation. But how is the Philippines doing according to global experts?
As per World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to the Philippines Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, the nation is actually doing ‘remarkable’ as the country administered 12 million doses in four months time amid global supply shortage.
According to GMA News Online, Dr. Abeyasinghe said, “It [the vaccination program] has been remarkable and we are now, I think, at almost 12 million people vaccinated and the vaccination program that just began in March. Just months… and that also with limited access to vaccine.”
He made this statement as he explained that the WHO has set a threshold to all countries in terms of COVID-19 vaccination. WHO eyes the vaccination of 10% of the population of all countries by September, 40% by the end of 2021, and 70% by June 2022, Abeyasinghe said, adding this threshold is set to all countries, regardless of their economic status.
He then talked about how he believes that the Philippine government can exceed the threshold as it follows an “ambitious” vaccination plan.
“For the Philippines, you have more ambitious goals. I think you now are at more than 10 percent of your population already vaccinated with first dose, four to five percent already fully vaccinated and we are looking at significantly large quantities of vaccines arriving over the next few weeks and months,” he said.
Well, that certainly sounds encouraging, right? With vaccine supply stability to be determined this July, experts will have the opportunity to come up with a feasible roll out plan to help the country battle the pandemic. Let’s hope the Philippines keep up the momentum, and the end of the pandemic comes sooner than later.
