26 million doses administered in PH, 12 million fully vaccinated—but still far behind ASEAN neighbors
Malacañang Palace said today that the Philippine government has administered 26.1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses as of yesterday, Aug.11. About 12 million have been fully vaccinated or a little over 10% of the population, while 14 million have received their first dose.
Prior to the strictest lockdown imposed on Metro Manila from Aug. 6 to 20, Metro Manila mayors said they were aiming to administer 250,000 COVID-19 doses a day during the two weeks of ECQ, according to MMDA chairman Benhur Abalos on July 31.
While numbers for Metro Manila alone are not available, according to Our World in Data the Philippines has been administering upwards of 500,000 doses daily since Aug. 2 when vaccination centers across the country administered 523,018 shots.
The highest number from Aug. 1 to 8 was on Aug. 3 at 710,476 doses administered.
In the first three days of NCR’s ECQ lockdown and stricter quarantine classifications across the country due to the COVID Delta variant, 580,044 doses were administered on Aug. 6. This was followed by 611,622 doses on Aug. 7; and 643,200 doses on Aug. 8—for the entire country.
Is this enough? Are we doing better than our Southeast Asian neighbors? Not be a long shot. Of the 10 ASEAN-member countries, statistics show that the Philippines is second to the last, followed only by Vietnam (Myanmar numbers are not available.)
Singapore leads in the region with 67% of its population fully vaccinated and 8.1% vaccinated with their first dose. Cambodia, Brunei, Malaysia and Thailand round out the top 5.
According to the Department of Health today, Aug. 12, the hospital utilization load for the country stands at 68% for ICU beds out of a total 3,800 (of these, 1,200 ICU beds are in NCR and 68% are utilized).
Of the 19,900 isolation beds 57% are occupied (1,200 in NCR); and of the 13,400 ward beds, 60% are being used (3,800 in NCR). Of the 2,000 ventilators, 1,000 are being used in NCR.
The DOH reported 12,439 new COVID-19 cases today.
Banner photo by Miguel de Guzman/Philippine Star