The Department of Health (DOH) vowed to make vaccination centers more accessible in the next round of its National Vaccination Days (NVD) this month to encourage more people to get inoculated against Covid-19.
National Vaccination Operation Center chairperson Myrna C. Cabotaje made the commitment last Wednesday after initial figures of the first NVD failed to meet targets.
The government was targeting to inoculate 3 million people per day during its NVD from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1, 2021.
However, for the first two day of the event, only over 5 million people were vaccinated.
She attributed the lower than expected turnout to the celebration of the regular holiday last Tuesday, which encouraged people to work to earn a double pay, as well as the reported early closure of some vaccination centers.
“We will make the process easier; We will increase the registration area because that is one of the complaints that some people were not accommodated due to the long queues,” Cabotaje said.
She, however, noted they will still not require pre-registration for the next NVD despite some local government units seeking its implementation.
“We saw there is really not need to pre-register. If we can accommodate more walk-ins, we can extend our hours as vaccination,” Cabotaje said.
“The President ordered not to send away people who lined-up in the vaccination [centers]. So, no walk-in should be sent home without being vaccinated,” she added.
The second NVDs will be held from Dec. 15 to 17, 2021.
Cabotaje said they are still they are still consulting with local chief executives if they will retain the 9 million target in the second NVDs.
The World Health Organization (WHO) earlier said it supports the conduct of the additional national vaccination drive to further increase the number of Filipinos, who are protected against Covid-19.