WITH just 20 days left before President Duterte steps down from office, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III yesterday admitted their target of having 77 million individuals fully vaccinated against COVID-19 is unlikely to be reached.
The target of having 77 million fully vaccinated by end of June is actually lower than the original set by the Duterte government, which was 90 million.
As of June 4, only 71.1 million individuals have been fully vaccinated while 14.39 million individuals have received booster shots, records of the Department of Health show.
“In all honesty, it would really be difficult (to meet) already because we are only having 300,000 jabs per week for the first and second dose,” said Duque.
Because of this, the health chief asked the incoming Marcos administration to maintain, if not improve, the COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
“The next administration will have to continue or even further ramp up vaccination and achieve 100 percent of the 77-million target,” said Duque.
Duque also appealed to incoming local government officials “to do everything so that booster shot intake among their constituents will increase,” he said.
By this, Duque said, local officials should consider using their local autonomy in setting policies that will help improve the intake of booster shots.
“They can pass an ordinance setting a mandatory booster policy. Although it will be much better if the booster will be ramped up due to incentives,” said Duque.
The Duterte government launched the national vaccination program for COVID-19 in March last year.
