About 97 percent of healthcare workers in Metro Manila have been vaccinated against coronavirus disease, the Department of Health said on Wednesday.

In the "Laging Handa" public briefing, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said the 97 percent were part of the 85 percent healthcare workers who received their jabs nationwide. There are about 1.7 million healthcare workers in the country.

"In NCR, 97 percent are A1 (who have been vaccinated)," Cabotaje said.

The 15 percent belonging to A1 priority group or workers in frontline health services who have not received yet of their jabs mostly came from the provinces, said Cabotaje, also the chairperson of the National Vaccination Operation Center.

"Mostly (who have not been inocualted) are those from the provinces, we need to encourage our barangay health workers, the members of our Barangay Health Emergency Response Team, they are a bit hesitant. So, we need to encourage them, these are msotly in the provinces and in the regions," she explained.

Cabotaje said so far 4,495,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered and out of these, 85 percent healthcare workers have received their first dose while 12 percent or about 1.1 million were A2 priority group or senior citizens.

Meanwhile, the official said until the end of May, the government does not expect new delivery of COVID-19 vaccines.

But in June, she said the government expects 10 million doses to arrive.

With the plan to vaccinate also the A4 group or the so-called economic frontliners numbering to about 13 million, Cabotaje said the local government units have to come up with a prioritization list for this group.

"We will leave it to the LGU to strategize, who are most at risk, most vulnerable from the A4 depending on their locality," she said. Celerina Monte/DMS