Tuguegarao City, Cagayan – The Department of Health has confirmed on Friday, June 17, that the country has enough COVID-19 vaccines to continue its 2022 nationwide vaccination program against the lingering virus.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III told reporters that so far, 70 million Filipinos are considered “fully-vaccinated” versus COVID-19, citing that the figure is about 90 percent of the government’s 77 million target.
Duque said in an official statement, “So for the rest of 2022, the next administration will have enough vaccines to expand our primary series vaccination coverage and of course, our first booster dose and second booster dose coverage.”
The Health Secretary said there are 155 million vaccine jabs that have been administered in the country out of the 244 million doses delivered.
Duque also bared that there is a slow rollout for the first booster shots with only 22 percent of the target 54 million Filipinos.
The World Health Organization has advised the DOH that new variants and subvariants of COVID-19 may evolve and may now be attacking other countries, saying that targets for booster doses must be accomplished soon.
Based on the health department’s report, those who have been given their 2nd doses of the boosters are persons with comorbidities, frontline health workers and senior citizens. TNF