MANILA, Philippines — The government has increased its target number of COVID-19 vaccinations to 1.5 million per day, the official leading the inoculation efforts said.
In the taped meeting of the pandemic task force aired late Tuesday night, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said the move is "in order to achieve a happy Christmas this year."
"We are ramping up the vaccination of students, teachers, tourism personnel, overseas Filipino workers, and seafarers," Galvez added.
Official data showed the country averaged 405,588 doses of COVID-19 jabs administered in the last seven days.
This means authorities would have to more than triple the current rate to achieve the targeted 1.5 million per day.
Per figures presented by Galvez, there are now 24.49 million Filipinos complete with their COVID-19 shots.
That translates to 31.76% of the target population of 77.13 million. Some 28.28 million, meanwhile, have received a first dose.
The National Capital Region has the most number of fully vaccinated at 7.89 million, or 80.78% of the goal of 9.77 million.
Calabarzon follows at 3.55 million, Central Luzon at 2.47 million, and Central Visayas at 1.50 million.
Regions with the lowest figure on individuals with complete shots are: Mimaropa at 412,545, Cordillera Administrative Region at 443,725, and Caraga at 489,203.
The vaccine czar said government would inoculate more of those willing to get the jabs.
While inoculations were also opened for the general public and for adolescents this month, Galvez added they would still focus on getting the shots to the most vulnerable, or senior citizens and other priority sectors. — Christian Deiparine