By Celerina Monte

The Philippine government is targeting to complete the vaccination against coronavirus disease of all healthcare workers in the country this month as China's Sinovac vaccine is set to be deployed to Visayas and Mindanao this week, official said on Monday.

National Task Force Against COVID-19 Carlito Galvez Jr. said they will dispatch the Sinovac vaccine to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu on March 3 and 4 and in Southern Philippine Medical Center in Davao City on March 5 and 6.

The vaccination rollout will be done on the following day from the arrival of the vaccine doses in Visayas and Mindanao, he said.

"We will try to complete (the vaccination) to all the health workers nationwide this March," he said.

The Sinovac vaccine will also be dispatched in Region IV-A or Calabarzon, Baguio City, and other areas with higher cases of COVID-19.

"The distribution will be equitable," Galvez said.

There are about 1.7 million healthcare workers in the country.

The government officially launched its COVID-19 vaccination program a day after the 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine donated by China arrived in the country. DMS