(Screengrab from PTV livestream)
MANILA, Philippines — The government has so far vaccinated 10 percent of its target population to reach herd immunity against COVID-19, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.
Health Undersecretary and spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said the country has so far reached 9.8 percent of the targeted population for herd immunity against coronavirus.
“Sabi natin, ang herd immunity, we can already achieve that if we have 70 percent of our population immunized. Kapag kinompute mo sa 70 percent ng populasyon, nasa 9.8 percent na tayo ng vaccinated individuals,” Vergeire said in an online press briefing.
(We said we can reach herd immunity if we vaccinate 70 percent of the population. If you will compute it from the 70 percent, we have already vaccinated 9.8 percent of the targeted individuals.)
The government is aiming to vaccinate 70 percent of the country’s population—or around 70 million individuals—to reach herd immunity.
Vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. said the country may reach this benchmark by November.
Vials labelled “AstraZeneca, Pfizer – Biontech, Johnson&Johnson, Sputnik V coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine” are seen in this illustration picture taken May 2, 2021. (REUTERS/File Photo)
Based on latest government data as of last Wednesday, the country has already administered 6.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, with 4.6 million provided as first dose and 1.6 million as second dose.
“We use these indicators for us to guide or check our progress at kapag tiningnan natin (and if we look at it), we use ‘yung (what is) based on the targeted 70 percent of the population. That is what we are achieving,” Vergeire said.
DOH Undersecretary and spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire (FILE PHOTO)
“So para makarating tayo sa 70 percent, 10 percent na noon ang nakukuha natin (in vaccinating 70 percent of population, we have already reached 10 percent) and we still have a long way to go, and we really need to ramp up our vaccination efforts and hopefully our supplies will stabilize,” she added.
The country is expecting the delivery of some 11 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for the remainder of June, according to Vergeire.