Updates with Galvez clarification

 National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez said Wednesday he has recommended the extension of the national vaccination days until Friday, dzBB reported.

This came as the government is looking at holding a second round  in mid-December as it may not be able to reach its target of inoculating a total of nine million Filipinos during the ongoing national vaccination  days.

The vaccination day was to end Wednesday.

Acting Presidential Spokesperson Karlo Nograles told ANC that ”15, 16, 17 is the indicative date.”

”So 15, 16, 17 is the indicative date we will see. Again, we will leave it up to the NVOC and the National Task Force to determine. But basically, the idea really is to continue to ramp up,”  Nograles said.During the ”Laging Handa” public briefing on Wednesday, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, the National Vaccination Operations Center chairperson, said more than 5.3 million jabs have been given in the first two days.

“The final number on November 29 is 2,708,018; as of November 30, 6 am, we have 2,292,335. Our numbers show that there are fewer vaccinations during the holiday but these are not final numbers, because it is just as of 6 am We will be expecting more numbers later,” she said.

The two-day total is at 5,353,000, said Cabotaje, far from the goal of three million jabs daily.

“Some were saying that holiday helps as they were able to go to the vaccination sites but there is feedback also that they worked because it was double pay,” she said.

Cabotaje said ”there some problems because they were not accommodated during the vaccination times.”

”There are vaccination sites that closed early,” she added.

Despite the government’s failure to achieve its three million jabs per day, Nograles said the challenges that occurred during the national vaccination days shows many people want to get vaccinated.

“The 2.55 million, although it’s short of the three million that we’ve pegged as a target for Day 1…  we are now part of the top 5 (nations) in a single day that had such a number of vaccinations in one day. So it means that it’s working. Many others want to get vaccinated. We can encourage more people.  So we will assess the numbers and then we’ll move after our assessment,” he said. Robina Asido/DMS