The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday said it will not reach its target of administering COVID-19 booster shots to 50 percent of the population in the first 100 days of the Marcos administration, or by October 8.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, DOH officer-in-charge, said booster rate coverage remained at low.
“Right now, our booster doses is really at 23 percent, it is at 18 million… The numbers are really anemic,” she said. “When we look at this, we really cannot reach the 50 percent during the first 100 days.”
The DOH said it was looking to administer booster shots to 23 million individuals in the first 100 days of the Marcos administration.
The National COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard showed that as of September 7, at least 18.387 million individuals have received the first booster and 2.423 million have received the second booster shot.
Almost least 72.7 million have also completed their single or two-dose primary series, while 70 million received their first vaccine shot.
Vergeire said the DOH is still looking to increase the number of boosted individuals.
“Hopefully, we can still improve the coverage,” she said, pointing to the special vaccination days the DOH scheduled for September 26 to 30.
“It is a week-long activity, where all of our local governments and government agencies are mobilized, and even the private sector and medical societies. The efforts on the ground will really be intensive,” said Vergeire.
An infectious disease expert said he does not see a significant improvement in the booster rate anytime soon because of vaccine “fatigue” and mild COVID cases being experienced by many people.
Dr. Rontgene Solante said this is why the government is exerting more efforts to have more people given booster shots.
“Cases of COVID-19 are going down and although the booster population, I don’t think it will really have an improvement in next two to three months. We have seen the vaccine fatigue of the people,” he said in mixed Filipino and English.
Solante reiterated it is important to get the booster shot because the coronavirus continues to mutate.
Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles, on the vaccination week, said concerned agencies and local government units are encouraged to come up with their own strategies, even incentives, to entice more people to get booster shots. — With Jocelyn Montemayor
