MANILA - Over 63 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 a year since government began the program, the Department of Health said Tuesday.

More than 135 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered as of Feb. 28, according to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.

Some 93.38 percent of some 1.55 million healthcare workers have been fully vaccinated, while 62.82 percent of 9.4 million elderly and 92.51 percent of 14.5 million persons with comorbidities have been given complete doses, Vergeire said.

• Meet Dr. Gerardo Legaspi, the first to be officially vaccinated against COVID-19 in PH

Meantime, some 736,880 children ages 5 to 11 and 9.5 million children ages 12 to 17 have received a COVID-19 jab, the DOH said.

Government has increased its vaccination target to 100 million or 80 percent of its eligible population.

• PH increases COVID vaccination target to 100 million

The country has so far approved for emergency use nine brands of COVID-19 vaccine, according to Vergeire. These brands are Astrazeneca, Covaxin, Covovax, Janssen, Gamaleya, Moderna, Pfizer, Sinovac, and Sinopharm.

"It can lessen the transmission, it can also protect us from severe infection and deaths," Vergeire told reporters.

Some 85 percent of virus patients admitted in intensive care units are unvaccinated, and "8 out of 10" hospitalized COVID-19 cases are unvaccinated, Vergeire said.

• Unvaccinated persons comprise 93% of COVID-19 deaths in PH: Duque

"Two times more ang risk po ng unvaccinated compared to unvaccinated individuals na maaaring mamatay dito sa sakit ng COVID-19," she said.

(Unvaccinated individuals have twice the risk of death due to COVID-19.)