A total of 8,331,665 people in Metro Manila have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said during his press briefing on Monday, October 25. This accounts for 85.22% of the government’s target population in the region.

Roque also said that 9,289,795 people in Metro Manila, or 95.02% of the target population, have been given their first dose. These figures are as of Sunday, October 24.

The government’s target is only 70% of the actual population. The Department of Health earlier set the target number of Metro Manila residents at 9,776,356. This means that the government is left with only 486,561 Metro Manila residents to vaccinate in order to reach the target.

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The vaccination rates are much lower if calculated using the actual population of the region.

The Philippine Statistics Authority’s population projection for Metro Manila in July stood at 13,966,223. This means that only 59.66% of Metro Manila’s overall population have been fully vaccinated, while 66.52% have been given their first dose. There are 4,676,428 residents, or 33.48% of the actual population, who are yet to receive their first dose.

Vaccinating 70% of the country’s population was earlier thought to be enough to reach herd immunity against COVID-19. However, the country’s pandemic officials decided to raise its target to include 90% of the population in September after the highly transmissible Delta variant accelerated the number of cases in the country.

Nationwide, Roque said 33.33% of the target population have been fully vaccinated as of Sunday. The national government aims to vaccinate 70% of the Philippine population before the start of the election period in February. – Rappler.com