43% of Filipinos vaccinated, 1.23% get booster shot ahead of Christmas Eve

MANILA, Philippines — The government fully vaccinated 46.95 million Filipinos against the novel coronavirus ahead of Christmas Eve, the latest Department of Health figures as of December 23 show.

This is equivalent to 43.06% of the population — less than half the 90% health authorities say must be fully vaccinated to attain herd immunity.

Of those fully vaccinated, 1.34 million or 1.23% of the total population have received an additional or booster dose since they were first approved in November.

Another 56.82 million or 56.82% of Filipinos have received the first dose of a two-dose regimen.

Authorities administered 728,483 jabs daily in the last seven-day period, less than half their target of 1.5 million.

The government has a week left to meet its target of fully vaccinating 54 million people before the year ends.

More vaccines arrive in time for Christmas

Meanwhile, millions of COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna arrived in the Philippines ahead of Christmas Day.

State-run media reported the arrival on Friday morning of over 1.4 million Pfizer shots procured by the government.

In a statement released hours later, the National Task Force Against COVID-19 said the country also received 1.53 million Moderna doses donated by the German government.

The arrival of the Pfizer vaccines comes as the government approves of the shott for emergency use on children ages 5-11.