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1.3M booster doses administered via PinasLakas drive

By Ma. Teresa Montemayor

August 11, 2022, 3:52 pm Updated on August 11, 2022, 4:21 pm

<p><em>(PNA photo by Rico H. Borja)</em></p>

(PNA photo by Rico H. Borja)

MANILA – A total of 1,301,394 booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered through the PinasLakas campaign.

In a Viber message to reporters Thursday, the Department of Health said the doses were given from July 26 to Aug. 9.

“We have 17,514 fully-vaccinated individuals for the A2 [senior citizen] population,” the DOH said.

The PinasLakas campaign aims to vaccinate 90 percent of the target elderly population and to boost 50 percent of the target population during the first 100 days of the Marcos administration.

In a televised public briefing Thursday, former National Task Force Against Covid-19 adviser Dr. Ted Herbosa said the government is already implementing different strategies to bring vaccines closer to the people administer the booster doses in the stockpile.

Immunity derived from the primary series of vaccines wane over time and booster shots are important in keeping the level of immunity up among the fully vaccinated, he added.

“Lalong-lalo na ‘yung mga qualified, ‘yung mga 50 years old and above, 18 to 50 with comorbidities and 12 to 17 years old ay pwede na sila lahat magpa-booster (Especially those who are qualified, those who are 50 years old and above, 18 to 50 with comorbidities [second booster] and 12 to 17 years old [first booster] they can already receive their booster shots,” he said.

To date, more than 71.7 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated, and more than 16.2 million individuals have received their first booster dose.

Boosters for PDLs

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) said it continues to ramp up the inoculation of Covid-19 booster shots in its jail facilities.

In a Laging Handa briefing Thursday, BJMP spokesperson Jail Supt. Xavier Solda said 104,256 PDLs or 79 percent of a total of 131,708 PDLs in 477 jail facilities have received their first booster shot while some 6,633 PDLs already got a second booster dose.

Mahalaga ho kasi ito dahil iyong mga PDL natin, habang ongoing pa ang trial at kapag nakalaya, ayaw ho natin silang maging problema pa noong mga community na tatanggap sa kanila at iyong mga babalikan nilang mga lugar kaya talagang sa facility pa lang pinababakunahan na po natin (It’s important that our PDLs who are still undergoing trial and when they are released later on, we don’t want them to be a problem of the communities that will receive them so we make sure that we have them vaccinated while inside our facilities),” he added.

Solda also reported that there are only nine Covid-19 cases among PDLs in BJMP jails who are now under strict monitoring.

Nakalagak po sila doon sa mga isolation facilities natin na binabantayan naman ng mga trained health personnel natin (They are now in isolation facilities and are being attended to by our trained health personnel). This is in coordination, of course, with the local health unit concerned and the Department of Health,” he added. (with Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)

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