Nearly 3.5 million individuals get 1st booster shots under PinasLakas drive

MANILA, Philippines — Close to 3.5 million individuals were able to receive their first booster shots against COVID-19 under the government’s PinasLakas vaccination campaign, the Department of Health (DOH) reported yesterday.

The PinasLakas campaign was launched on July 26 as a response to President Marcos’ directive to vaccinate 90 percent of the A2 population, or senior citizens, and 30 percent of the eligible population with first booster doses to maintain the country’s wall of immunity.

Last Sept. 26, the DOH also launched Special Vaccination Days in LGUs (local government units) to intensify efforts to meet the booster shot target for the first 100 days of the Marcos administration yesterday.

In a statement, the DOH said that as of last Thursday, 3,433,713 individuals from the eligible population and 45,255 senior citizens had been boosted and vaccinated, respectively.

The agency added that the numbers helped improve the country’s vaccination rate for fully vaccinated individuals to 93.81 percent, or 73.3 million Filipinos.

The number of Filipinos who have received their first-booster doses has also increased to 25.62 percent of the general population, or 20 million individuals.

The DOH earlier set a booster shot target of 30 percent or 23.4 million of the 78 million eligible population under PinasLakas.

At the same time, the agency said it sustained its testing capacity with an average daily demand-driven output of 17,788 tests per day from 350 DOH-licensed COVID-19 testing laboratories as of Sept. 30.

“The department also strengthened the country’s COVID-19 detection, control and isolation, and tapped the support of LGUs to ensure strict implementation of COVID-19 protocols,” it added.

These initiatives are said to have significantly contributed to the Office of the President’s decision to allow the voluntary wearing of face masks in outdoor settings last Sept. 12.

As of Sept. 30, the government had disbursed over P26 billion for the grant of COVID-19 benefits and compensation for the country’s health care workers.

Of the amount, over P18 billion was disbursed for the grant of Special Risk Allowance (SRA); meals, accommodation and transportation benefits; active hazard duty pay and life insurance enrolment under the Bayanihan laws.

Meanwhile, P6.64 billion was disbursed for the provision of health emergency allowance, formerly known as the One COVID-19 Allowance, and P1.56 billion for the payment of COVID-19 sickness and death compensation.