Duterte says those who refuse COVID-19 vaccine should be injected while sleeping

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said authorities should look for individuals who do not want to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and inoculate them while they are asleep to achieve the country's goal of reaching herd immunity against the virus.

"Alam kong marami pang ayaw. 'Yan ang problem, 'yung ayaw magpabakuna. Kaya hanapin ninyo 'yan sa barangay ninyo. Akyatin natin pagtulog at turukin natin habang natutulog para makumpleto ang istorya," Duterte said during his Talk to the People.

(I know there are a lot of people who do not want to get vaccinated against COVID-19. That is  a problem. That is why you should look for them in your barangays, go inside their houses while they are sleeping, and give them the COVID-19 vaccine while they are sleeping to complete the story.)

"Kung ayaw, akyatin sa bahay, tusukin sa gabi. Ako ang mag-ano [turok sa kanila] (If they don't want the vaccine, let us go their house, inject them at night. I will do it myself)," he added.

Vince Dizon, deputy chief implementor of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, said COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is still present in far-flung areas. He said there needs to be an intensified information drive to let people know that vaccines reduce the chance of being infected with or getting a severe case of COVID-19 as proven by data coming from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Based on FDA records, there were 516 breakthrough infections among fully vaccinated individuals nationwide. This is only 0.0025% of the 20.3 million fully vaccinated individuals in the country.

The government initially targeted to fully vaccinate 70% of the country's 109 million population by December this year, but this has since been changed to 80% to 90% of the population before the May 9, 2022 national elections.

At least 23 million Filipinos are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 so far.

The region with the widest COVID-19 vaccine coverage at 77% is Metro Manila, the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Duterte said he is confident that 50% of the country's around 109 million population will be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before Christmas. —KG, GMA News