MANILA—The Philippines must immunize a majority of its population, and the public must get a second COVID-19 vaccine dose to be protected against variants of the novel coronavirus, the vaccine expert panel said Tuesday.

The Delta and Beta COVID-19 variants, first detected in India and South Africa, respectively, have a higher possibility of escaping immunization from coronavirus vaccines, said Dr. Nina Gloriani, head of the country's vaccine expert panel.

Those who completed their COVID-19 vaccination may get full protection after 2 weeks, Gloriani added.

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The Philippines has so far recorded 17 cases of the Delta variant, 1,267 cases of Beta variant, and 1,085 Alpha variant cases.

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