MANILA - The Philippines has administered more than 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to its population nearly four months since its inoculation program began, government said Monday.

A total of 10,065,414 doses have been given out as of Sunday, of which 7,538,128 were first doses, according to the Department of Health.

The remaining 2,527,286 were second doses. Those who have completed the required 2 doses are considered fully vaccinated.

The daily average of vaccine doses administered from June 21 to 27 was 236,867, an increase from the previous 7 days' 208,809, according to the ABS-CBN Data Analytics Team.

At the current rate, the country will reach its maximum target of 70 million people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity, by December 2022 or in 1.5 years, it said. The government has set a minimum target of 58 million to be fully vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.

• NCR Plus 8 herd immunity by Christmas 'reasonable,' says OCTA Research

"The vaccination pace is picking up. But to reach 70 million people by end of the year, the pace should now be around 695,000 daily," said Edson Guido, head of ABS-CBN Data Analytics Team.

Government again urged those belonging in the priority categories of health workers, senior citizens, persons with comorbidities, economic frontliners and indigent (A1 to A5) to get vaccinated and complete the required number of doses as scheduled.

The latest COVID-19 vaccination bulletin showed that more than 1.13 million health workers in the country are already fully vaccinated, as well as 672,602 senior citizens, 710,846 persons with comorbidities, and 12,340 economic frontliners. More than 184,000 first doses have been administered among members of the indigent population.

"Regardless of vaccination status, everyone is urged to continue practicing the minimum public health standards as you may still get infected with COVID-19 and infect other people," it said.

Completing COVID-19 vaccination prevents variant infection, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Even if a person contracts the virus, the vaccine protects against severe illness, said the Department of Health.

• COVID-19 vaccination ‘only way’ to stop new variants, says FDA
• Sinovac still prevents severe COVID-19, says DOH amid Indonesia infections

The Philippines has recorded a total of 1,397,992 COVID-19 cases as of Sunday, of which 52,570 were active infections and 24,372 resulted in deaths.

Based on the monitoring of the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group, nearly 17.5 million doses of different COVID-19 vaccine brands have been delivered to the country, of which, more than 12 million have been distributed to the different LGUs.

Watch more in iWantv or TFC.tv