DOH adjusts COVID booster target to 30% in Marcos’ first 100 days

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MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday adjusted its target for the COVID-19 booster campaign to 30 percent in the first 100 days of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s administration.

But DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire clarified that the initial 50 percent target for its “PinasLakas” booster program would remain the same until the end of 2022.

“Due to the pace at which our booster vaccination is going, we have adjusted our target only for the first 100 days to 30%,” said Vergeire in a statement.

“Even so, this does not mean we will be lax in our efforts and settle for just reaching 30%. On the contrary, we are doubling down on our campaign to reach and even surpass our target of 30% by October 8 and 50% by the end of the year,” she added.

The new target is the reason why the DOH is working with different government agencies to incentivize getting vaccinated, Vergeire explained.

“In fact, some regions such as NCR have already achieved our target of 50% booster vaccination coverage,” she said.

Based on the latest vaccination numbers on Tuesday, the DOH has only vaccinated 31,939 of its 1.07 million target in senior citizens with the booster dose.

Meanwhile, only 2,708,323 have been provided with the first booster of the 23 million targets.

Vergeire then called on the public to participate in the campaign.

“Ultimately, the government can keep developing new strategies to boost vaccination coverage but we still won’t reach our targets if our fellow Filipinos do not get vaccinated,” she said.

“Meaning, it is up to each and every one of us if we will reach these targets.”

It can be recalled that the DOH planned to inoculate 23.8 million or at least 50 percent of the eligible population with the COVID-19 booster shot within the first 100 days of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos administration.

The department, however, conceded on August 31 that it would no longer be able to meet its target as the campaign only reached about 9 percent of its target population for the first boosters.

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