More than 4.7 million people have become fully vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as the government continued to accelerate its inoculation drive.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said 15,096,261 doses of coronavirus jabs have so far been administrated in the country, including 10,388,188 first doses and 4,708,073 second shots. The vaccine beneficiaries included mostly health workers, senior citizens, people with comorbidity, and essential workers.
Roque gave the latest vaccination update as he announced the upcoming delivery of additional coronavirus vaccines to the country. Around 562,770 Pfizer vaccines procured by the government will arrive in the country on Wednesday, July 21.
The country has so far received 27.8 million doses of coronavirus vaccines, including the 3.2 million Johnson & Johnson jabs donated by the United States through the COVAX facility.
Among the recent shipment are the 1.5 million doses bought from China's Sinovac and 1.1 million jabs bought by the private sector and local government units from AstraZeneca.
President Duterte has repeatedly appealed to Filipinos to get vaccinated as soon as possible, saying vaccination was the country's best defense against the coronavirus disease. Duterte has already completed his two-dose vaccine regime.
“Health authorities around the world have noticed that the global pandemic recovery is at risk with the rise of new COVID-19 variants. The emergence of new COVID-19 variants like Delta and Lambda are truly cause of concern and the government is closely monitoring our borders for these strains to prevent local transmission,” the President said during a televised address Monday, July 12.
“Having said that, our best defense is still to be vaccinated as soon as possible,” he added.
The government originally set a target to vaccinate up to 70 million people to reach herd immunity before the end of the year. But due to the limited vaccine supply, it slightly modified its short-term goal to attain "population protection" or around 50 percent of the population of Metro Manila and other high risk areas before 2021 ends.
READ: Duterte: Vaccination still the 'best defense' vs new COVID-19 variants