MANILA, Philippines — Some three-fourths of the target population in Metro Manila to reach herd immunity has received at least a first-dose vaccine as the Metro Manila Development Authority on Monday expressed confidence that it could easily reach half of its target population fully vaccinated by the end of the month.
Citing data from the National Vaccine Operations Center, MMDA chair Benhur Abalos at a town hall Monday morning said that 75% of the eligible target population in Metro Manila to reach herd immunity has received at least a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine as of Sunday, August 22.
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Metro Manila mayors are gunning to vaccine 9.8 million of Metro Manila's 14.2 million population, or 70%, to reach herd immunity.
Vaccination numbers: These amount to 7,350,611 who have received their first dose, and 4,262,546 or 43% who are fully vaccinated out of the target 9.8 million or 70% of the total population to reach herd immunity. Exactly 11,613,157 vaccines have been administered in the capital region.
"I think by the end of the month, easily we could reach 50 percent of the eligible population [fully] vaccinated in the NCR at the rate we're going. We're going to try to do that by the end of August," he said.
"The way we [mayors] see things is there is already a light at the end of the tunnel. We just need to endure a little bit more. We don't know if these will go up or not."
Ayuda distribution: Abalos added that local governments in Metro Manila have distributed 75% of the ayuda funds from the national government on average.
Under the guidelines released to local governments, Metro Manila's local chief executives have 15 days from the start—or until Wednesday, August 25—to complete the distribution of ayuda to their constituents.
Metro Manila is currently under modified enhanced community quarantine until the end of August, along with the provinces of Laguna and Bataan.
Two-week ECQ 'effective': According to Abalos, exactly 3,641 granular lockdowns have been tallied in Metro Manila.
He added that some 2,381 contact tracers are in Metro Manila with the Department of Labor and Employment donating an extra 5,209 contact tracers whose contracts are expiring in the next two months.
Earlier Sunday, the OCTA Research Group said that a downward trend in new cases may take shape within the coming weeks but would "require sustained efforts in pandemic management" over the next month.
That same day, the Department of Health also tallied the third-highest daily increase so far with 16,044 new cases.
This brings the total cases in the country to 1.84 million, 125,900 of whom are still classified as active infections.