DOH hopes to meet 50 percent target under 'PinasLakas' vax campaign

The Department of Health (DOH) is hopeful to at least reach 50 percent of its target for the PinasLakas Covid-19 vaccination campaign.
DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said that their vaccination accomplishment for this campaign remains low until now.
“Hopefully hindi man natin maabot ang target makakalahati man lang tayo para dito para tayo ay makapagtaas ng wall of immunity dito sa ating bansa (even if we don't reach the target, we can at least reach half of it so that we can raise the wall of immunity here in our country),” she said during a press briefing on Wednesday, Aug. 31.
She noted that only 2.1 million individuals have so far received their first booster shot under the PinasLakas drive. “This is just about 8.82 percent of our targeted eligible population of 23 million plus.”
To note, the PinasLakas was launched last July with a goal of administering booster shots to 23 million Filipinos within the first 100 days of the Marcos administration or until Oct. 8.
“Pagtinignan natin wala pa rin rehiyon nakakaabot ng at least 50 percent coverage dito sa ginagawa nating (If we look at it, there is still no region that reaches at least 50 percent coverage under the) PinasLakas campaign. Although the National Capital Region has already reached... sila pinakamataas 47 percent (they have the highest coverage with 47 percent),” said Vergeire.
The DOH is planning to hold a special week of vaccination by the end of September, said Vergeire.
Vergeire said that they are already coordinating with their regional offices, local government units, and medical societies to further ramp up the Covid-19 vaccination, especially for the booster shots.
“We are planning for a special week of vaccination drive para sa buong Pilipinas this coming end of the month for September, inaayos lang po natin ang mga detalye (for the entire Philippines this coming end of the month for September, we are just fixing the details),” she said.
“Pero yan po ang isa sa mga hakbang natin para mas maipalawig pa natin ang pagbabakuna natin sa iba’t ibang rehiyon ng ating bansa ,” she added.