Malacañang on Friday, April 1, vowed to achieve a 100 percent COVID-19 vaccination rate in the country before President Duterte's term ends in June this year.
In a virtual Palace briefing, Communications Undersecretary Kris Ablan added that the government aims to return to the new normal before the start of the next administration.
"We are going to use everything under our power to achieve 100 percent vaccination and get back to our new normal before the President steps down on June 30," Ablan told reporters.
During the same briefing, Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said at least 65.9 million Filipinos are already fully-vaccinated against Covid-19, or some 73 percent of the target population.
Meanwhile, 12 million have already got their booster shots as an added protection against other variants of the disease.
For the pediatric population, Vergeire said 933,000 children aged five to 11 are also fully vaccinated, while 8.9 million in the adolescent population have completed their doses.
"Hindi po titigil ang Kagawaran ng Kalusugan at ang buong gobyerno hanggang hindi po nababakunahan ang bawat Pilipino na nangangailangan po ng proteksiyon laban sa virus (The DOH and the entire government will not stop until every Filipino who needs protection against the virus is vaccinated)," Vergeire said.
"Magpabakuna na po tayo para ang pagbabagtas natin sa ating new normal ay magtuluy-tuloy na (Let's get vaccinated to continue our transition to the new normal)," she added.