The Food and Drug Administration is likely to come out next week with an emergency use authority for vaccines to be used as a third dose for individuals fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Southeast Asian nations must be able to stand on their own in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic even with help from external partners, President Duterte said on Tuesday.

As the World Health Organization warned this week, the COVID pandemic is far from over. While advanced economies with an abundance of vaccines are reopening their economies, with some even ditching mask mandates, developing countries including the Philippines continue to struggle with vaccine supplies.

The Quezon City government has reached its target of fully vaccinating 1.7 million residents and workers against COVID-19.

Cebu City is now classified as ”very low risk” for COVID-19, according to the OCTA Research Group.