Only two million of the ten million doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered were fully vaccinated Filipinos, according to the data from the Department of Health.
Some social media users pointed this out online following the COVID-19 vaccine statistics the DOH released on Monday, June 28.
The DOH reported that as of 6 p.m. of June 27, the total number of doses administered in the country is 10,065,414.
Of these, 7,538,128 have already received the first dose of the COVID-19 jab. However, only a paltry of it or 2,527,286 have received the required two doses.
All COVID-19 vaccine brands available for free in local government units have to be administered in two doses so that they can fully take effect.
Data on recipients of the two COVID-19 shots, therefore, should have provided the full picture of how far the national government’s vaccination plan has to go to achieve herd immunity or its target number of Filipinos to be inoculated.
So far, there are seven COVID-19 vaccine brands with emergency use approval from the country’s Food and Drugs Administration. These are:
- Pfizer-BioNTech
- Oxford’s AstraZeneca
- Sinovac’s Coronavac
- Sputnik V
- Janssen COVID-19
- Covaxin
- Moderna
Pfizer, Coronavac and AstraZeneca are the ones currently accessible for free in LGUs.
Correct computation, deceiving presentation?
In the infographic presented, the data for the total COVID-19 doses were also given more emphasis than the other two figures.
Some Filipinos noticed this and argued that the data can be deceiving. They noted that others would perceive the 10 million number as a milestone.
“While the math is technically correct, the data presentation is deceiving, especially if the variable you present (doses) is only secondary to the actual variable that is important (people vaccinated),” one Twitter user said.
“Wag po kase tumingin sa total doses. Dun sa fully vaccinated yun kasi important. It means 2.5 million palang na Filipino ang complete out of 70 million Filipinos,” another user wrote.
Another online user suggested that the government should present data that included the country’s population in the computation.
“Dapat kasi kinukuha nila dapat yung proportion ng mga nabakunahan with respect to total population para maging mas maganda yung analysis,” one user said.
Some Filipinos have already brought up this complaint to the DOH and other related government agencies when they first issued vaccination data early this year.
READ: Philippines vaccination ranks 3rd in Southeast Asia? PCOO shows partial data
Others, meanwhile, aired under the DOH’s comments section that there seemed to be a delay in the delivery of second dose vials in Metro Manila.
“Explain recent slow mass 2nd dose vaccinations in NCR. Keep us informed, ease people’s apprehensions on the effect of delayed 2nd dose,” one user said.
In DOH’s COVID-19 vaccine data, the daily average COVID-19 jabs are 236,867 in the past seven days.
Meanwhile, for the 17th week of the national vaccination program, the total doses administered are 1,658,072.
The health agency also called on Filipinos who belong to priority groups A1 to A5 to have themselves inoculated against COVID-19.
“The government is urging eligible populations belonging to priority groups A1 to A5 to register with their local government units, get vaccinated, and complete the required number of doses as scheduled,” the DOH said.
“Regardless of vaccination status, everyone is urged to continue practicing the minimum public health standards as you may still get infected with COVID-19 and infect other people,” it added.
