The national government is targeting to fully vaccinate 77 million people against Covid-19 by the end of June, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
"Our target would be 77 million individuals by the end of June. Ito po ay (This is) 85 percent of our targeted eligible population which is 90 million," said DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
Vergeire is hopeful that they would be able to reach their target when President Duterte ends his term next month.
"Sa ngayon ay iyan po iyong working target natin (Right now, that's our working target). We already were able to vaccinate 68.5 million Filipinos. So, kaunti na lang po iyong inaasahan natin at sana ay maabot natin by the end of June (So, only a few more and hopefully we will reach it by the end of June)," she said.
The DOH is holding special vaccination days in certain areas to help increase their vaccination coverage.
"For example po, ang BARMM po, sila po ay magkakaroon ng mga special vaccination days kasi tapos na po ang Ramadan, so nag-start na po noong May 11 hanggang May 20 (For example in BARMM, they will have special vaccination days as Ramadan is over, so it already started last May11 until to May 20)," said Vergeire.
"Patuloy po nating tinutulungan ang Region XII, Region VII, Region V, Region IV-B at saka ang Quezon sa Region IV-A para po mas maitaas pa ang antas ng pagbabakuna sa mga lugar na iyan (We continue to help Region XII, Region VII, Region V, Region IV-B and then Quezon in Region IV-A to further raise their level of vaccination)," she added.
Transition team
Meanwhile, the DOH has already set up a transition team to discuss with the next administration the agency's project that should be prioritized.
"Well, nagpalabas na po ang Office of the President ng administrative order kung saan kailangang ang lahat ng ahensiya ay makapagbuo nitong transition team. So, amin na pong nabuo ang transition team ng DOH (Well, the Office of the President has already issued an administrative order requiring all agencies to form a transition team. So, we have already formed the DOH transition team)," said Vergeire.
"Magkakaroon na po kami ng mga meetings by next week kung saan ilalahad po natin diyan, iisa-isahin natin ang mga priority programs natin para po maihanda natin para sa darating na administrasyon (We will have a set of meetings next week where we will present our priority programs so that we can prepare for the next administration)," she added.