PH surpasses 55M fully vaxxed vs COVID-19

The Philippines has surpassed its initial target of 54 million fully vaccinated individuals against COVID-19, with 55,195,486 Filipinos now fully vaccinated.

As of January 17, a total of 118,944,887 doses of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccines have been administered nationwide.

Additionally, 4,915,091 of the fully vaccinated have received booster or additional doses.

Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. stated that the target was initially set for the end of 2021 but was impacted by Typhoon Odette and a subsequent surge in cases in January.

Despite these challenges, the country's average vaccination rate significantly increased to 797,265 doses in the last seven days, compared to around 300,000 doses in previous weeks.

Galvez emphasized that the administration of primary doses remains a priority, as unvaccinated individuals are more prone to hospitalization, severe cases, and death if infected.

He also noted that there are still around 3 million senior citizens who remain unvaccinated.