FORTY-FIVE million Filipinos, or just a quarter of the target population, have yet to get booster shots amid threats of new COVID-19 variants and subvariants emerging, the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday.
“Right now, we have 20.5 million booster shots administered. That is just about 26 percent of the target population,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a briefing. “We are looking at around 40 to 45 million that are still to receive their first booster shots.”
Data from the DOH’s National COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard shows some 73.5 million individuals have been fully vaccinated while the number of individuals who have received the booster, as of October 26, was only 20.5 million. Booster shots require at least three months interval from the second vaccine dose.
Vergeire, DOH officer-in-charge, said most of those who refuse to get booster shots were found to be content with being fully vaccinated, which means they have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
Some find getting a booster shot unnecessary because it is not required at work or in schools, while others remain hesitant because of misinformation about the vaccine, she said.
“Many have gone to the phase of — I don’t’ know if that is complacency — or are already confident in moving forward,” she said.
Vergeire said this is unfortunate as the DOH and local government units have not been remiss in their mandate to make COVID-19 jabs available.
“We did everything we could to intensify the campaign. Local government units have conducted vaccination activities left and right. We also had our special vaccination days, where we only got 500,000 across all regions,” said Vergeire.
