Gov't aims to vaccinate over million weekly starting April

The Philippine government aims to vaccinate more than one million Filipinos weekly starting April as it expects to receive four million doses of vaccines by July.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the country plans to vaccinate 450,000 individuals daily starting in April once additional vaccine supplies arrive.

As of Wednesday, all 1.125 million on-hand vaccine doses have been deployed nationwide with healthcare workers being prioritized for vaccination.

The government expects to complete inoculating around 1.7 million medical frontliners by mid-April and aims to vaccinate the general public starting in May or June once steady vaccine supply is ensured.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. expressed confidence that the Duterte administration can achieve its target of vaccinating about 70% of the population against COVID-19 in 2021.