13.79% of Filipinos fully vaccinated as gov't raises herd immunity target to 90%
MANILA, Philippines — Latest government figures show that 15.03 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 since the life-saving jabs were first rolled out over six months ago.
This is equivalent to just 13.79% of the country's 109.04 million population — 90% of which must be fully vaccinated to attain herd immunity, according to government experts.
Data as of September 5 presented by Malacañang on Monday also shows that 20.81 million or 19.08% of Filipinos have received at least a first dose of the vaccine.
While the government surpassed its daily target of administering 500,000 jabs daily on September 3, it fell short of the same target on September 4 and 5, administering just 277,995 shots on Sunday.
Shifting targets
The government is aiming to vaccinate 50 to 60 million Filipinos before the year is out to attain what authorities have referred to population protection.
Officials must fully vaccinate another 34.97 million people in less than four months — more than double the number of those fully vaccinated in the last six months — to meet the lower end of the target.
Before this, the more ambitious target was to gain herd immunity from the virus by vaccinating 70% of the population before 2022.
Now, government experts say 90% of the population must be fully vaccinated to attain herd immunity, citing the presence of coronavirus variants which have lowered the efficacy of vaccines against symptomatic infections.
The Department of Health has stressed, however, that the vaccines remain effective at preventing severe disease and death.
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