Monday, April 19, 2021

Only 63% of PH health workers got jabs–WHO

BEACH DEBRIS Beach cottages along the coastal village of Masao in Butuan City are destroyed by strong winds and waves as Typhoon “Bising” (Surigae) sweeps through the eastern coastline of the country. Bising is expected to gradually weaken as it remains in Philippine territory for the rest of the week. —ERWIN MASCARIÑAS

News

Community pantries expose gov’t aid delay, say lawmakers

While inspired by the popping up of community pantries in many areas across the country, several lawmakers have been unanimous in saying that the phenomenon has also shone a harsh light on the government’s COVID-19 response, prompting ordinary people to come to their neighbors’ aid in the absence of help from authorities. —Story by DJ Yap and Leila B. Salaverria

Regions

13, including kids, die as car plunges into irrigation canal in Kalinga

A trip to visit a scenic lake in Tabuk City, Kalinga province, on Sunday turned tragic after 13 people, including seven children, were killed and two others were critically injured when the car carrying them fell into a 10-foot deep irrigation canal in the city on Sunday, police said. —Story by Villamor Visaya Jr., Kimberlie Quitaisol And Jeannette I. Andrade INQ

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Only 63% of PH health workers got jabs–WHO

By Leila B. Salaverria @LeilaSINQ

The government aims to vaccinate 70 million Filipinos, or 70 percent of the population, to achieve herd immunity.

So far, it has received a total 3,025,600 vaccine doses, mostly Sinovac’s CoronaVac from China and a portion developed by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca. Sinovac’s second dose is given 28 days after the first dose while AstraZeneca’s two doses are given four to 12 weeks apart.

All the 525,600 AstraZeneca doses provided by the COVAX global vaccine pool have been administered as first dose.

According to the DOH, Indonesia has administered 15,811,449 doses since Jan. 13. Like the Philippines, its available vaccines are those from Sinovac and AstraZeneca.

Singapore came next with 1,667,552 doses of the US-German Pfizer-BioNTech and the US Moderna, although it started its vaccination earlier on Dec. 30.

Myanmar has administered 1,040,000 doses; Malaysia, 1,018,937; Thailand, 578,532; Cambodia, 418,569; Vietnam, 58,248; and Laos, 40,000. These countries rolled out their vaccination between Jan. 27 and Feb. 28, except for Vietnam which started its program on March 8.

Editorial

Journalists doing their job

It was the unjust situation that China has foisted for years on the Philippines that Chiara Zambrano and her team sought to document when they set out to the West Philippine Sea to see the plight of Filipino fishermen who have been edged out and deprived of their livelihood in their own traditional fishing grounds.

Read full story: opinion.inquirer.net