10.9% of Filipinos have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine — official
MANILA, Philippines — A total of 12 million Filipinos have received at least one coronavirus shot since the government launched its inoculation campaign in March, a member of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 said Tuesday.
This is equivalent to 10.9% of the Philippines' total 110 million population. Authorities have previously said that 70% of the population must be fully vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.
“Today we have reached our 12 millionth dose [administered] in the whole country," NTF deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon said in Filipino during a press briefing.
“Early last week…we reached 10 million [doses administered]," he added. "In just two weeks or so, we have had two million more vaccinated with at least the first dose."
Dizon failed to mention how many Filipinos have been fully vaccinated as of July 6.
Data from the NTF posted Monday night, however, shows that 2,868,905 people — 2.60% of the population — have received both vaccine doses as of July 4.
The Philippines has the second-worst coronavirus outbreak in Southeast Asia, trailing behind Indonesia, with 1.44 million COVID-19 cases and 24,192 deaths as of Monday.
In Metro Manila, the outbreak's epicenter, cities are starting to feel the bite of a slowly-dwindling jab supply as local governments limit their inoculation programs' vaccine coverage or stop them altogether.
This, despite vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr.'s earlier promise that the country would see a steady supply of vaccine shipments for the rest of the year.
Malacañang on Monday said one million AstraZeneca vaccine shots donated by Japan and 170,000 doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V are expected to arrive this week.
— Bella Perez-Rubio with a report from Franco Luna
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