Philippines exceeds 70% vaxx rate, but boosters still a challenge

Although the Philippines exceeded its 70% vaccination rate, the government admitted on Monday night that the administration of booster shots remains a challenge.

"Ngayon po ang challenge natin ay mag-pa-booster ‘yung mga nakatanggap na ng two doses at ma-vaccinate natin ang ating mga kabataan," National Task Force Against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon said during President Rodrigo Duterte’s Talk to the People.

Dizon noted that 81 out of 119 provinces, highly urbanized cities (HUCs), and independent component cities (ICCs) have already fully vaccinated above 70% of its total population, and over 70% of its senior citizen population.

"Sa probinsya po 45 out of 81 provinces or roughly 56% have reached the 70-70 target —70% of target population and 70% of seniors. Sa ating HUCs, isa na lang po ang hindi pa umaabot, ‘yun po ang General Santos City sa SOCCSKSARGEN," he said.

(In the province, 45 out of 81 provinces or roughly 56% have reached the 70-70 target —70% of the target population and 70% of seniors. In our HUCs, there is only one that has not yet reached, that is General Santos City in SOCCSKSARGEN.)

“Meron na lang isa out of the five ICCs, Cotabato City in region 12 ang hindi pa umaabot sa 70% target,” he added.

(There is only one out of the five ICCs, which is the Cotabato City in region 12 that has yet to reach the 70% target.)

As of May 23, data from the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) showed that 69,037,072 or 76.70% of the target population were fully vaccinated while 73,529,148 individuals received at least one dose of COVID-19 jabs.

Meanwhile, Dizon said that the National Capital Region, Cebu City and Davao City surpassed other cities in America and Europe in terms of fully vaccinated individuals.

He said that NCR reached 107% of its target population, Cebu City had 87.45%, while Davao City had 85.38%.

Data from NVOC revealed that Los Angeles had only 72% vaccination rate, New York had 78% and London had 65%.

“Baka po magtaka kung bakit nangyari ito. Dahil po ang NCR mayors, dahil sa tulong ng DILG, ng MMDA, at ating mga mayors sa NCR, nagbakuna din sila ng non-NCR residents sa Bulacan, sa Cavite, Laguna, Rizal at sa iba pang mga probinsya,” Dizon explained.

(You may wonder why this happened. Because of the NCR mayors, with the help of the DILG, the MMDA, and our NCR mayors, they also vaccinated non-NCR residents in Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and other provinces.)

House-to-house vaccination

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año reported that 811 cities and municipalities are implementing house-to-house vaccination (H2H) data as of May 22.

Año said 1,934,807 total COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered through this scheme.

He added that region 13 had the highest H2H vaccination turnout at 477,657, followed by region 3 at 421,138 and region 11 at 246,249.

The DILG official said that they have directed all LGUs to proactively seek the unvaccinated and those individuals eligible for COVID-19 booster shots following the detection of the Omicron BA.4 subvariant in the Philippines.—LDF, GMA News