The Department of Health (DOH) has noted a decrease in the case fatality rate in Metro Manila.
In a meeting with President Duterte on Monday, July 12, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III revealed that the case fatality rate fell to 26 percent from 5.78 to 4.6 percent.
He said nationwide, the case fatality is 1.76 percent.
As of July 12, the total number of COVID-19 deaths in the country was at 26,015 with 100 new deaths.
"Filipinos less than one year old to 49 years old the case fatality rate is .42 percent. This is low and we hope it will stay that way," said Duque.
"For Filipinos 50 to 80 years old, the case fatality rate is 5.53 percent," he added.
Duque said it is also the reason why the vaccination of senior citizens are also being prioritized.
The Health chief, meantime, said achieving herd community is also dependent on the vaccine supply.
"Our goal is 70 million for herd immunity with each given two doses of the vaccine. But that is dependent on the supply of vaccines," said Duque.
"If the supply of vaccines will arrive on a regular basis, 10 to 15 million a month or even 20 million, we can achieve that in 140 days," he added.
Duque also explained the interval in giving the first and second doses of the vaccine.
"For example, Pfizer, Moderna and even Sinovac its 28 days. AstraZeneca is 12 weeks," he said.
"We are on track so far based on my calculation, and given the assumption 500,000 jabs a day and about 20 to 30 million doses a month," added Duque.
For his part, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director General Eric Domingo explained the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines.
"The vaccines we use like Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and the arriving Janssen...the reduction in efficacy compared to the original virus is 10 to 20 percent. It means their coverage are still good," he said.
"We are still waiting for data from Sinovac, Sinopharm and Sputnik regarding the Delta variant as it is still being studied," added Domingo.
He said while the variants slightly reduce a bit the efficacy of the vaccine, it remains to be effective and useful.