PH aims 1st dose COVID vaccination for at least 70pct of target 77.1 million this year

MANILA - The Philippines has to double its efforts as it aims to partially inoculate by year end at least 70 percent of the 77.1 million individuals eligible for COVID-19 vaccine, an official of the Department of Health said Sunday.

The country has so far administered around 35 million first jabs, according to Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, although official data show that as of Oct. 28, only around 31.4 million of such dose have been given, while those fully vaccinated have reached 26.8 million.

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"That means, we will need to double our effort by end of the year para maka-reach tayo ng first dose ng at least 70 percent of our target population," Cabotaje told ABS-CBN's Teleradyo.

(That means we will need to double our effort by end of the year so we can administer the first dose to at least 70 percent of our target population.)

The government targets to fully vaccinate as high as 77,139,058 people, which account for 70 percent of the country's total population, to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19.

Cabotaje said last week that only 50 percent of the country's population - the low threshold of the government target - may be fully vaccinated by the end of this year, while the high end target of 70 percent may be achieved in the first quarter of 2022.

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The Philippines has received some 105 million doses since March, she added.

The government has also begun inoculating children aged 12 to 17 with health risks, and will soon expand the program to include all kids of the same age nationwide.

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This aims to encourage the "rest of the adult population," especially the elderly, of whom only 50 percent have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to Cabotaje.

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"We are very hopeful that with this vaccination combined with other efforts, we will have a better, happier Christmas," she said.

An independent research group attributed to the country's wide vaccination coverage the recent decline in new coronavirus infections.

The country has logged a total of 2,783,896 confirmed COVID-19 cases, as of Saturday, of which, 47,690 were active. Its first case was recorded on Jan. 30 last year in a Chinese woman who arrived from Wuhan City, China where the disease is believed to have first emerged.