MANILA – The Philippines has received a total of 2,279,160 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) on Thursday, the biggest shipment of the American-made jabs through the COVAX Facility. accine Czar, Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr., said as soon as the inspection has been completed and the DHL logistics gives a go-signal for distribution, the government will immediately deploy the vaccines to areas with appropriate cold storage facilities. Around 1.9 million doses were transported to Manila, while 210,600 each were allocated to Cebu and Davao region. In Luzon, the latest donation will mostly go to Metro Manila, Laguna,

MANILA – An official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday assured that they are doing all their best to ensure that the conduct of elections next year is safe amid the coronavirus pandemic. “We would like to assure the good senator (Senator Francis Pangilinan) and the public that the Comelec is doing anything it can to make sure that the elections are safe. Remember the Comelec controls certain areas of the elections, particularly filing of the certificate of candidacy, the conduct of the campaigns, the conduct of the election day, and the counting and canvassing as well as

MANILA – Fully vaccinated individuals should keep their vaccination cards as the government prepares a digital identification system to verify the Covid-19 vaccination status of an individual. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez said the Department of Information and Communications Technology is expected to launch the digital vaccine ID within a month. “I think in a few weeks, around one month, we will complete this digital card, and hopefully a QR code system also system wherein the vaccine ID will be centralized and consolidated and in digital form,” Lopez said in a Laging Handa public briefing Friday.

MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) assured that it is boosting measures against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in Visayas and Mindanao, which both grapple with a surge in infections. In a virtual presser on Friday, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the Bicol Region in Luzon, the regions of Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Davao Region, Soccsksargen, Caraga, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have logged a two-week growth rate in new cases while those in the National Capital Region (NCR) and its neighboring areas are on a decline. “Patuloy po ang

MANILA—San Juan City’s active Covid-19 cases are down to 88, which Mayor Francis Zamora on Friday attributed to residents’ efforts to follow health protocols. Zamora said the city recorded as many as 1,296 active cases on April 12. “I attribute this to the concerted efforts of the San Juaneño people to follow health protocols and our local government’s intensified vaccination program in San Juan,” Zamora said in a statement. San Juan has already vaccinated 33,736 residents, representing 40 percent of the city’s 85,400 target population for inoculation. He also thanked the national government for providing a steady supply that ensures

MANILA – All fully-vaccinated individuals in the Philippines who wish to travel overseas need to first secure a certification indicating that they already received two jabs against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), Malacañang said on Friday. This developed after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) revised on Thursday the guidelines on inbound international travel to any port of the Philippines of all fully vaccinated individuals who have been inoculated in the Philippines. “The IATF issued a date of effectivity in the abovementioned guideline, which is, June 16, 2021,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, who concurrently