1 in 4 Filipinos fully vaccinated against COVID-19

This photo taken on August 6, 2021 shows a policeman checking motorists' documents as they cross from nearby Rizal province into Metro Manila, at a provincial border checkpoint in Quezon City, suburban Manila.
AFP/Ted Aljibe

MANILA, Philippines — Some 27.27 million Filipinos have been fully inoculated against COVID-19 since the government launched its vaccination campaign eight months ago. 

This is equivalent to 25.01% or a quarter of the population — still a long way from the 90% health authorities say is needed to attain herd immunity.

Government figures as of October 30 also show that 31.86 million or 29.22% of Filipinos have received a first dose of the vaccine. 

The average number of daily doses administered in the last week was 488,363 — well below the previous government target of 500,000 and a mere fraction of the new target of 1.5 million recently set by authorities. 

Officials are racing to fully vaccinate some 50 million Filipinos before the year ends, a downgrade from their previous goal of vaccinating 70% of the population by end-December.

That more ambitious target has been pushed back to February 2022, ahead of the national polls in May. — Bella Perez-Rubio

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