Philippines still 12 million short of COVID-19 vaccination year-end goal —DOH

The government is 12 million short of meeting its target of 54 million Filipinos fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by year's end, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said Wednesday.

"Our target is to reach 54 million fully vaccinated individuals. We have 42 million fully vaccinated so far, so we still have to fully vaccinate 12 million [people]," she said during the Laging Handa briefing.

Cabotaje made the announcement as the second round of the national vaccination event begins, with the government eyeing to administer seven million COVID-19 vaccine doses. The vaccination drive has been postponed in some areas, however, due to Typhoon Odette.

"The primary vaccination remains very important because that is the first battleground and it is our first layer of protection," she pointed out.

But with the target population in Metro Manila already fully vaccinated at this point, Cabotaje said that the region's target is to administer as many booster shots as possible.

Current guidelines only allow administration of boosters six months after getting the second dose of the two-dose COVID-19 vaccine and three months after the single dose COVID-19 vaccine Janssen.

"We are confident that we will reach the seven million target," Cabotaje said.

"We have enough vaccines and we will have enough for our booster shots. For shelf life, be rest assured all our vaccines are safe, effective and monitored by the Food and Drug Administration," she added.

The Duterte administration is eyeing to have 77 million people fully vaccinated by March 2022 and 90 million by June 2022. — BM, GMA News