The Department of Health (DOH) urged at least 40 million fully-vaccinated Filipinos to receive their first Covid-19 vaccine booster shot.
“Our eligible population for the first booster shot would be around 55 million individuals. At present, there are 15.2 million Filipinos that already received their booster shots,” said DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Friday, July 8.
“So, we are looking at around 40 million eligible Filipinos who are still yet to receive their booster shots,” she added.
Vergeire said that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. instructed the DOH to further improve the strategies to increase vaccine uptake.
The Health official said they will bring the vaccination sites closer to the communities, including the conduct of house-to-house vaccination.
“Tayo po ay gagawa ng mga pagsusuyod doon sa mga lugar na malalayo, doon sa mga lugar na ang ating mga kababayan ay hindi talaga maka access ng ating vaccination sites (We will go to remote areas and look for those who don't have access to our vaccination sites),” said Vergeire.
Vergeire said they will also coordinate with other government agencies such as the Department of Education, Department of Labor and Employment, and Department of the Interior and Local Government in order to have " a whole of government approach."