By: Aianna Xyril Monsod
An elderly woman receiving her first dose in Manila, 2 years after the pandemic first began. Photo courtesy of Rappler.
A special national vaccination week will be held by the end of September to raise vaccination and booster shot use, Department Of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said.
According to Vergeire, the Philippines’ immunity to COVID-19 is collapsing according to the recent statistics released by the DOH. The proportion of hospitalized vaccinated versus unvaccinated patients with COVID-19 has nearly equalized from roughly 70 to 80 percent to almost 50 percent.
The government aims to reach barely half its vaccine goal for the first 100 days of the Marcos administration. As of August 30, per the DOH data, about 72.5 million Filipinos had received all doses, including 4.7 million children, 9.9 million youths, and 6.8 million senior citizens.
The 16 regions of the country have not yet all reached 50% coverage. The National Capital Region (NCR) had the highest vaccination rate at 47% .
“This is one of the steps to expand vaccination in different regions. While we might not reach the target, hopefully we could achieve half to increase our wall of immunity in the country,” DOH officer-in-charge Vergeire stated.
The DOH is considering changing its approach to promoting COVID-19 vaccination as a result of these figures.