Palace: Entire Philippines should be vaccinated first before buying booster shots

MANILA, Philippines — The government can already buy COVID-19 booster shots but the vaccination of the country's population has to be completed first, Malacañang said Thursday.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque noted that only 18% of the Philippines' eligible population have been fully vaccinated so far.

"All I can say is that it is in our proposed budget. Once that budget is approved - even without approval, we can procure them (booster shots)," Roque said at a press briefing.

"But for now, we are still vaccinating the entire Philippines. Nationally, we are still at 18.29%. So let's talk about booster shots later," he added.

The Duterte administration has allocated P45.37 billion for booster shots in the proposed 2022 national budget. The health department has yet to approve the injection of booster shots to fully vaccinated persons, citing insufficient data about its safety and the limited supply of jabs.

As of September 1, more than 20 million persons or 25.93% of the eligible population have received their first dose of COVID-19 shot while 14.1 million  individuals or 18.29% have availed of their second dose.

A total of 52.6 million vaccine doses have arrived, 34.11 million of which have been administered. The government expects the arrival of 25 million doses of pandemic shots this month.