The World Health Organization (WHO) encouraged the Philippines to fully hit its coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination target in every priority group until it reaches the "last mile."

WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific Dr. Takeshi Kasai commended the vaccination effort of the Philippine government.

“The government has (been) putting a significant effort in vaccinations. And I was very happy to hear yesterday that the vaccination coverage for the healthcare workers (has) already reached above 95 percent,” said Kasai in a virtual press briefing on Wednesday, Aug. 25.

“And for elderly, they are also---the pace is really going up and reached more than 46 percent. I wanted really to encourage people to get the vaccine when your time comes,” he added.

Data from the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) showed that out of the 1,639,714 healthcare workers in the country eligible for vaccination---94.72 percent or 1,553,208 are already fully vaccinated as of Aug. 18. Meanwhile, 1,614,998 healthcare frontliners already received their first dose, which is equivalent to 98.49 percent of the target population for healthcare workers.

“We are urging countries to go to the last mile of vaccinating your healthcare workers and your elderly,” said Dr. Socorro Escalante, WHO Coordinator for Essential Medicines Health Technologies.

“For example in the Philippines, if you're saying you have 95 percent of healthcare workers already vaccinated----with Delta variant spreading----let's find out who are those five percent that remain (to be unvaccinated),” she added.

Escalante emphasized the importance of vaccinating the priority groups who are vulnerable to COVID-19.

“The steps for the countries are very clear: to prioritize those populations that have the highest risk in order for us to effectively use the available vaccines and to systematically deploy the vaccines based on prioritization,” she said.

“In terms of the Delta variant, I wouldn't say that the strategy has changed. We would still need to ensure the priority groups are going to be vaccinated first,” she added.

However, due to the threat of the Delta coronavirus variant, it is imperative for countries to speed up their vaccination efforts.

“What countries need to do is to speed up and scale up the vaccination so that we could cover the priority population as soon as possible. And to as much as possible, be ahead before the Delta variant spreads,” she said.