Duque says gov’t aims to fully vaccinate 7M Filipinos in 2nd vax drive

MANILA, Philippines — The government is aiming to complete the COVID-19 doses of seven million Filipinos in its planned second round of the national vaccination drive set on Dec. 15 to 17, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Tuesday.

Duque said this is to help the government achieve its goal of fully vaccinating 54 million Filipinos by the end of 2021.

“Ang tinatarget natin dito mga 7 million para sa second dose para maabot yung pinupuntiryang 54 million by end of the year na nabigyan ng kumpletong bakuna,” he said in a Laging Handa public briefing.

(We are targeting to fully vaccinate 7 million people to achieve the goal of fully inoculating 54 million Filipinos by the end of the year.)

The government launched the first tranche of the three-day vaccination drive on Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 but failed to achieve its nine million target. 

The government, however, gave leeway to local government units to extend the vaccination drive until Dec. 3.

In a briefing with President Rodrigo Duterte, Duque said the government was able to vaccinate 9.9 million individuals from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3.

JPV