MANILA - The Philippines has administered more than 8 million COVID-19 vaccine doses since its rollout began in March, the government said Sunday.

A total of 8,050,711 jabs have been administered nationwide as of Friday out of the 14,205,870 doses of vaccines received by the country, according to the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC). These include vaccine candidates of Sinovac, Gamaleya Institute, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca.

Of the total inoculation figure, 5,953,810 were administered as first doses while 2,096,901 were given as second doses. All four vaccine brands being used in the country have to be administered in a two-dose regimen.

Those fully vaccinated include 1,053,373 or 94.24 percent of the country's healthcare workers (A1).

Of the senior citizens (A2), 1,939,599 have received their first dose, while 536,476 have been fully vaccinated.

The National Task Force Against COVID-19 also said 498,925 persons with comorbidities (A3) have received their two doses, while 2,005,206 have received their first dose.

Among essential workers (A4), 452,600 have received their first shot, while 8,127 others are already fully vaccinated.

At least 23,826 indigents were given their first dose as well as Metro Manila started inoculating those in the A5 sector.

"We’re now seeing an upward trajectory in the vaccination throughput across all priority groups. This is a very good indication that vaccine hesitancy is being addressed and more Filipinos, especially our senior citizens, are now willing to get inoculated,” vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said in a statement.

“We are happy that the public uptake for Sinovac has also increased significantly. The steady supply of doses particularly of this brand, will enable us to fast track the inoculation of the A4 priority group, as well as provide much-needed vaccines to emerging hotspots across the country."

Three experts from Israel’s Ministry of Health will visit the Philippines from Sunday to Friday to share their country’s experiences on vaccine deployment, Galvez said.

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“Their arrival in the Philippines will help us fine-tune our vaccination roll-out. We want to learn from the best practices being implemented in Israel and hopefully, replicate and use them in crafting our country’s policies,” he said.

The Philippines recorded its highest daily vaccination at 322,929 on June 15 in its 3,991 vaccination sites, according to Galvez.

Government has deployed 11,731,640 vaccine doses nationwide, he added.

“We will sustain our momentum, as we expect a steady supply of vaccines in the coming weeks and months,” he said.

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11 million jabs set to arrive in July

The country is set to receive another 1.5 million doses of Sinovac on Thursday and some 250,000 Moderna jabs on June 27, according to Galvez.

Some 2,028,000 AstraZeneca doses through the COVAX Facility and 150,000 Sputnik V jabs (component 2) will also arrive this month, he said.

"We also expect to receive the US donation of vaccines before the end of June," he added.

Next month, the country will receive 11,670,000 COVID-19 vaccines, Galvez said. Of this number, 4.5 million are Sinovac shots, 1.17 million are AstraZeneca doses purchased by the private sector, and one million doses each are Moderna and Sputnik V.

Some 4 million doses of "either AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech" will also arrive from the COVAX Facility, according to Galvez.

Government is in "the final stages of sealing the deal" for some 40 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and six million doses of Janssen vaccines, Galvez added.

The Philippines aims to vaccinate at least 58 million individuals this year to achieve herd immunity against the coronavirus. As of Saturday, the country has recorded 1,353,220 COVID-19 cases, of which, 59,439 are active and 23,538 resulted in deaths.

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