MANILA, Philippines — The government has fully vaccinated 30.81 million Filipinos against COVID-19 some eight months into its inoculation campaign.
This is equivalent to 28.26% of the population — a long way from the 90% health authorities say is needed to attain herd immunity in the Philippines.
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Department of Health figures as of November 11 also show that 36.91 million or 33.85% of Filipinos have received a first dose of the vaccine.
Officials administered an average of 748,839 doses in the last seven days, a little over half their target of 1.5 jabs per day. The ambitious target is part of the bid to fully vaccinate 50 million Filipinos before the year ends.
On Friday, Malacañang announced that vaccination against COVID-19 is now mandatory for workers in government and private firms who report on-site in areas with enough supply of the shots.
Malacañang said employees who are unvaccinated cannot be terminated but will be required to undergo regular RT-PCR or antigen testing at their own expense.
It added that all eligible workers in public transportation services in the road, rail, maritime and aviation sectors shall also be required to be fully vaccinated as a condition to continue operations. — with a report from Xave Gregorio