COVID-19 Special Coverage, Issues and Special Coverage, News

June 2021 concludes with 2M vaccines fully administered

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By Ana Rufa Padua

Philippines closes the month of June with 10,236,354 administered COVID-19 vaccines. According to the June 27 report of the Department of Health (DOH), 7,538,128 of these were first doses, while the remaining 2,527,286 were second doses— this means that 2.4% of the Philippine population have been fully vaccinated. For the country to achieve herd immunity from the coronavirus, at least 70% of its population should be fully vaccinated. 

Numerous shipments of COVID- 19 vaccines have arrived in the country during the past week. Moderna’s first shipment arrived on June 27 with 249,600 doses. 150,000 of these doses will be distributed to the Philippine government, while the remaining 99,600 doses will be given to International Container Terminal Services Incorporated (ICTSI), as per the  National Task Force Against COVID-19’s direction. 

The country also received 1 million more doses of Sinovac last June 28, Monday after the recent shipment of 2.4 million doses last June 24, Friday.

According to the weekly taped press briefing with President Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines is still expecting the arrival of the following vaccines in July:

  • 5.5 million doses of Sinovac
  • 1,170,000 doses of AstraZeneca arriving between July 5 to 12
  • 250,800 doses of Moderna arriving on July 12
  • 500,000 doses of Pfizer arriving on July 12
  • 4 million doses from COVAX
  • 800,000 to 1 million doses from the US government
  • 1.1 million doses donated by the Japanese government

Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, member of OCTA Research, claims that herd immunity for NCR Plus is “reasonable” by Christmas.

“Over the past year and a half, we have a surge when there is a new variant. If there is no new variant, then things come down, and that’s what you’re seeing now. You are seeing a coming down after the arrival of the Alpha and Gamma variant, so now we have to protect ourselves from the Delta variant” Austriaco adds.

Currently, there are 17 cases of the Delta Variant Plus, all of which were detected from returning international travelers. 

Dr. Eva Maria Cutiongco-dela Paz, executive director of the University of the Philippines Manila – National Institutes of Health, claims that the Delta Variant is not yet a variant of concern (VOC), though it contains an additional mutation or the K417N which could contribute to the immune response escape of the variant.

As of June 29, the Philippines has recorded a total of  1,408,058 COVID-19 cases and 50,037 active cases— this is 23,360 more than the 26,677 active cases during the beginning of the year.

DOH reminds that Filipinos who missed their scheduled second dose can still get vaccinated, they also advise the public to complete the required doses for full protection against COVID-19. Currently, there are eight vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration: Moderna, Pfizer, Sputnik V, Janssen, AstraZeneca, Covaxin, Sinopharm, and CoronaVac.

For more information regarding COVID-19,  you may visit https://doh.gov.ph/2019-nCoV and https://doh.gov.ph/vaccines

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