DILG spox: Almost 8M in NCR fully vaccinated vs. COVID-19

Around 7.9 million Filipinos have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the National Capital Region, Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said Friday.

During the ceremonial vaccination of adolescents with comorbidities aged 12 to 17 years old in Quezon City, Malaya said this was 81.4% of the eligible population in the region.

According to Malaya, 9.1 million Filipinos in NCR have received at least one dose against the illness, comprising 93% of the eligible population.

Meanwhile, around 28.9 million or 37.5% of the entire eligible population have received at least one dose while 24.8 million or 32.25% of the eligible population have been fully vaccinated.

“So kung titignan natin ‘yung pinagmulanan natin nung March when we launched this vaccination program, malayo-layo na po ang ating narating and our target is now to focus on the vaccination of the rest of the country,” Malaya said.

The Department of Health previously said that the inoculation of the general adult population was simultaneously conducted nationwide on October 7

“Nakakapagbakuna po tayo around kalahating milyon. If our target is to reach population protection by the end of the year, kailangan po iramp up natin ‘yan by 1 million to 1.5 million vaccination a day,” Malaya said.

He added said that with continuous vaccination, the country can look forward to a better future and a better Christmas.

Some local government units in NCR earlier started their COVID-19 inoculation of people aged 12 to 17 with comorbidities as part of the expansion of the pilot pediatric vaccination.

The country has logged a total of 2,740,111 COVID-19 cases with 4,806 new infections on Thursday. — RSJ, GMA News