There were 8.9 million children aged 12 to 17 years old in the Philippines who have already completed their Covid-19 primary vaccination series, the Department of Health (DOH) reported on Friday, March 25.

The data was as of March 24, said DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire during the Malacanang briefing on Friday, March 25.

Previously, the DOH said they are targeting to vaccinate 12 million children aged 12 to 17.

Also, there were 736,143 kids under the age bracket of five to 11 who were also now fully protected against Covid-19, said Vergeire.

The government is aiming to vaccinate 15 million children in the country.

"Kaya naman po para sa ating mga magulang o legal guardians, pakidala na po ang ating mga kabataan sa ating mga bakunahan para mabigyan na po sila ng karagdagang proteksyon para sa Covid-19 (For our parents or legal guardians, please bring your children to our vaccination sites so that they can be given additional protection against Covid-19) ," said Vergeire.

Moreover, the government only needs five million Filipinos in order to reach its target of fully vaccinating 70 million individuals by the end of this month. The government is also aiming to fully vaccinate 90 million Filipinos by the end of June.

"As of March 24, naabot na po natin ang 72.8 percent ng ating target population o humigit kumulang 65 million na ating mga kababayan ang fully vaccinated (we have reached 72.8 percent of our target population or about 65 million of our citizens are fully vaccinated)," said Vergeire.

"Halos nasa 12 million naman po ng ating mga kababayan ang nabigyan na ng (Almost 12 million of our citizens have been given) booster doses," she added.

'Redefine' fully vaccinated term

In a related development, Vergeire said the DOH and some health experts are currently discussing if there is a need to redefine the term "fully-vaccinated."

Vergeire made the statement after Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion suggested redefining fully vaccinated, saying that it should include those who received the booster shot.

Concepcion made the proposal because of the low number of people who received their booster shots.

Currently, a person is being tagged as fully vaccinated if he or she received the first two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine or the primary vaccination series.

Vergeire said at least 44 million Filipinos are now eligible to receive their booster doses. So far, about 12 million people got boosted.

"Isa iyan sa mga pinag uusapan natin with DOH and our experts. But of course according to our experts they were saying na mukhang hindi talaga appropriate. Naghanap po tayo ng mga ebidensya, practices na mga ginagawa sa ibang bansa, especially among credible institutions abroad. Ang CDC (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) po hindi po nila nire-define ang kanilang fully vaccinated definition (That's one of the things that the DOH and our experts are discussing. But according to our experts, they were saying that doesn't seem appropriate. We looked for evidence, practices that are being done in other countries, especially among credible institutions abroad. The CDC did not redefine the term fully vaccinated)," said Vergeire.

"Pero naglagay po sila ng up-to-date---if you are fully vaccinated, you need to update yung immunization ...Ayan po ang tinitingnan, pinag-aaralan (But they put an ‘up-to-date’ like if you are fully vaccinated, you need to update the immunization ... That's what we're looking at). We will be issuing this out after we have completed and finalized our agreements," she added.