The Philippines launched a mass Covid-19 drive on November 29 to vaccinate 9 million people in three days. Though scaled back from an earlier target of 15 million, it is still an ambitious effort for the archipelago nation, which faces logistical hurdles and vaccine hesitancy. According to government data, while 93% of the capital region’s residents were fully vaccinated as of mid-November, only 10.9% of people in the predominantly Muslim regions in the south were. During the campaign, 160,000 volunteers across 8,000 vaccination sites will aim to administer 3 million shots a day, nearly quadruple the November national daily average of 829,000. President Rodrigo Duterte declared the three-day stretch as “special working days,” excusing people from work if they are going to get a vaccine. Another three-day event is planned for December 15-17. Reuters; Al Jazeera; Straits Times
Menu