THE National Capital Region (NCR) has reached almost 100 percent or 99.40 percent first dose vaccination coverage, which is equivalent to more than 9.7 million individuals given a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, said Presidential Spokesperson Secretary Harry Roque Jr.
In a press briefing on November 9, 2021, Secretary Roque said the NCR has also reached 90.35 percent or more than 8.8 million individuals fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as of November 8, 2021 data from the National COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard.
Meanwhile, almost 65-M or 64,947,366 total vaccine doses have been administered nationwide as of November 8, 2021, of which 38.64 percent or almost 30 million individuals have been fully vaccinated, said Sec. Roque.
On vaccine arrivals, the Palace official mentioned about the delivery of 2,805,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccines last night, November 8, which was personally received by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
“Ang deliveries na ito, ayon sa Pangulo, ay nagpapakita ng commitment ng bansang Russia para makamit ang global vaccine equity at pag-improve ng vaccine accessibility ng mga bansa, kabilang na po ang ating bansang Pilipinas,” Roque said.
Roque added that 793,900 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines donated by the German government to the Philippines through the COVAX Facility are expected to be delivered today, November 9, 2021.
On another matter, Roque noted the third quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 7.1 percent, which according to the government’s Economic Team is among the highest third quarter growths in the ASEAN and East Asian regions.
“Bagama’t mas mababa ito sa 12 percent growth noong second quarter, mabuting balita pa rin po ito dahil ang paglago ay nangyari sa gitna ng mahigpit na quarantine na ating ipinairal sa gitna ng Delta variant,” Roque said.
Among the major economic sectors that posted positive growths are Industry and Services that posted 7.9 percent and 8.2 percent growth, respectively, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
“Inaasahan natin na lalago pa po ang mga ito at ibang mga sektor dahil sa ating ginagawang pagbubukas ng negosyo at pagluluwag ng ekonomiya sa ilalim ng Alert Level 2 sa Metro Manila,” remarked Roque.
The Palace spokesperson said the Economic Team and the whole Duterte Administration are confident that the country can return to the path toward rapid and inclusive growth. “Magtiwala lamang po at mag-ingat-buhay po para sa pagbabalik po ng ating buhay,” Roque said.
Meanwhile, in the same press briefing, Social Security System (SSS) President Aurora Ignacio said the SSS launched five programs to assist its members with existing loans that were left unpaid because of the difficulties brought about by the pandemic. These programs include the extension for the payment of contributions, which was implemented in September, the Contribution Penalty Condonation Program, Enhanced Installment Payment Program, Housing Loan Restructuring and Penalty Condonation Program, and a program for those who had short-term penalty loan.
On whether the SSS will impose a contribution hike, Ignacio said the SSS Act of 2018 or RA 11199 has a contribution hike schedule, which states that the next hike will be in the year 2025.
