(File photo)
MANILA – The Philippines is on track to achieve its target to inoculate up to 50 percent of the general population by yearend, President Rodrigo Duterte said.
Duterte made the remarks in his taped Talk to the People, as he trumpeted the government's success in achieving its goal of administrating at least 55 million doses of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccine in October.
He attributed the success of the government's intensified vaccination drive to the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines that "came in droves."
"I am happy to report that we exceeded our target of 55 million doses to be administered in October," Duterte said in a speech delivered Monday night but aired Tuesday morning.
As of Tuesday, a total of 60,406,424 Covid-19 vaccine shots have been administered nationwide, according to the government's National Covid-19 Vaccination Dashboard uploaded on the official website of the Department of Health.
Around 27,749,809 individuals have already been fully vaccinated, while 32,656,615 others have received the first vaccine jab.
Duterte expressed confidence that the government would achieve population protection by the end of the year.
"Around 35.5 percent of the target population have already been fully vaccinated which puts us well on our way to achieving the target of at least 50 percent by the end of the year," he said.
The Philippines' goal is to vaccinate up to 70 percent of the population within 2021.
With more Covid-19 vaccines coming in, the Duterte administration is eyeing to administer between 1 and 1.5 million doses daily beginning next week.
So far, the Philippines has received a total of 108,912,460 doses of the coronavirus vaccine, both procured and donated. (PNA)
