MANILA — The Philippines has fully vaccinated at least 12 million people against COVID-19, Malacañang said on Thursday, as the country battled a sharp rise in coronavirus infections presumably linked to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.

Authorities have administered a total of 26,127,502 doses of different COVID-19 vaccine brands, as of Aug. 11, said Palace spokesman Harry Roque.

At least 12,027,383 are now fully vaccinated, according to the slideshow he presented.

Of the total administered doses, 14,100,119 were first shots.

"Nagpapasalamat kami sa ating mga kababayan sa tumataas na kumpiyansa sa bakuna. Maraming salamat din po sa ating vaccinators," Roque said in a press briefing.

(We thank our compatriots for the rising confidence in the vaccines. Thank you to our vaccinators, too.)

Government aims to fully immunize up to 70 million people before the year ends to achieve herd immunity and safely reopen the economy.

Video courtesy of PTV

Salvador Camacho, 71, got over his initial worry about side effects and decided to get his jab when a slot opened for a night appointment at one of the 24-hour hubs.

"I do not really want to be inoculated because I have a lot of sickness, but lately I see a lot of people older than me getting vaccinations, and my child and wife told me to take my jab since we never know when I might get infected," he said.

Vaccination centers across the Philippine capital Manila are trying to speed up inoculation rates, including by staying open 24 hours.

Joan Carbonell, who works as a supervisor in a Manila vaccination hub, said the decision by some hubs to open at night was also to limit crowds in the morning as people scramble to get a shot.

Last week, thousands queued outside Manila vaccination centers after rumors spread that people would not be able to leave their homes if they did not get their shots.

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The Philippines has reported more than 1.68 million infections and 29,000 deaths so far during the pandemic, but the number of positive tests has been rising, driving a surge in cases and hospitalizations.

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— With reports from Jamaine Punzalan, ABS-CBN News; Reuters