The Department of Health (DOH) has so far administered 109,000 first booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines during the special vaccination days called “PinasLakas Bakunahang Bayan.”

This accomplishment is as of Thursday, Sept. 29, and is only equivalent to 5.7 percent of the 1.9 million first booster shot target for this program.

DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire admitted that the uptake on booster shots remains slow.

“Lahat ng efforts ng local governments natin throughout this week, lahat intensive (All the efforts of our local governments throughout this week were intensive). Resources have been used,” said Vergeire in a press briefing on Friday, Sept. 30.

“All sectors were mobilized, we have these different settings that we are implementing but up until now, the uptake is very slow,” she added.

The special vaccination drive was launched last Sept. 26 in Visayas and Mindanao. In Luzon, it was launched on a later date, Sept. 27, due to Super Typhoon Karding. This vaccination drive will end on Saturday, Oct. 1.

This program was launched to intensify efforts in order to meet the first booster shot goal for the first 100 days of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s administration.

The DOH is aiming to reach its 30 percent target for the first booster shots or at least 23 million people boosted until Oct. 8. As of Sept. 27, about 19 million people have already received their first booster shot.

“The four million plus would be our overall target so that we can reach the 30 percent for the entire eligible population by Oct. 8,” said Vergeire.

“We need to really double, triple our efforts, so that by Oct. 8, we at least reach the 30 percent ,” said Vergeire.

‘Moved on’

The slow uptake on booster shots can be attributed to “pandemic fatigue,” said Vergeire.

“I think just like in any parts of the world, people have moved on. People have in their minds the pandemic fatigue,” she said.

Some people are “confident already” with their two-dose primary vaccine series, while other vaccinated individuals have also contracted Covid-19 “ so that boosts their immunity,” said the Health official.

“Iyon po ang pinaniniwalaan at base po iyan sa survey (That is what people believe right now),” she said.

Although “natural immunity is good and the first two doses is still good,” eligible people should get boosted because of waning immunity, said Vergeire.

“Gusto ko lang ipaalam sa ating mga kababayan, tumataas po ang bilang ng mga fully-vaccinated na naoospital sa ngayon because of Covid-19 (I just want to inform our citizens that the number of fully-vaccinated people who are being hospitalized because of Covid-19 is increasing). And this is an initial indication that the immunity of the population is waning,” she said.

“Nakikiusap po tayo, hinihikayat natin lahat na magpabakuna na po tayo. It is safe, epektibo po ito, naproprotektahan kayo laban sa severe and critical, and most importantly binibigay po ito ng libre ng ating pamahalaan (We are appealing and encouraging everyone to get vaccinated. It is safe, it is effective, you can be protected against severe and critical , and most importantly, our government provides it for free),” she added.