MANILA - Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez on Monday said there's still hesitancy among people aged 60 years and above to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Galvez said in a taped briefing that the average number of first doses being administered to senior citizens has not gone up, despite them being prioritized by government since the country's vaccination drive began on March 1.

"Ang talagang medyo challenge po natin itong sa senior citizens. Nakikita natin na 'di pa umaangat ang first dosing natin. Dati almost 2 million [doses average] tayo. Ngayon, 'di tayo umangat. Kakaunti lang po ang ating nabakunahan," he said.

Galvez has urged senior citizens to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

• Galvez urges senior citizens to get vaccinated vs COVID-19

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Benhur Abalos, meanwhile, said LGUs will focus on senior citizens' vaccination during the enhanced community quarantine in the capital region from August 6-20.

As of August 1, the Philippines has fully inoculated 9.1 million individuals. The country needs to vaccinate up to 70 million Filipinos to attain herd immunity against the disease.

The Philippines is battling one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in Asia, which the highly contagious Delta variant is threatening to worsen.

On Monday, the country logged 8,167 new COVID-19 cases, pushing its total number of infections to 1,605,762.

It is the fourth straight day that daily cases topped 8,000, noted the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group, as government assumes there is already community transmission of the COVID-19 Delta variant in the country.

• Philippines' COVID-19 cases breach 1.6-million mark

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