FOUR days into the six-day special vaccination week, the Department of Health (DOH) has reached only close to six percent of its almost two million target coronavirus disease (Covid-19) booster shots.
In a press briefing, DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the special vaccination week has so far reached 109,000 individuals out of the 1.9 million target for the campaign set to end Saturday, October 1.
The numbers, as of September 29, are equivalent to 5.7 percent of the target number for the DOH.
"All these efforts of the local government, throughout this week, have been intensive. Resources have been used. All sectors were mobilized. We have these different settings that we are implementing. But, up until now, the uptake is very slow," said Vergeire.
"Based on this booster accomplishment, really, the uptake is very slow," she furthered.
The special vaccination days are touted as the final attempt of the DOH to meet the booster shot target for the first 100 days of the Marcos administration, which falls on October 8.
The DOH has already set a booster shot target of 30 percent or 23.4 million of the 78 million eligible population.
As of September 27, DOH data showed that some 19.3 million individuals have received their first booster doses.
"That's about 4 million plus as our overall target so that we can reach the 30 percent for the entire eligible population by October 8," said Vergeire.
Asked where it attributes the consistently low number of booster shot uptake, the health official said it is due to people already having "moved on" from the Covid-19 pandemic.
"People have moved on. People have in their minds the pandemic fatigue. People are confident already with the first two doses they have. That is what people believe now," said Vergeire.
The DOH launched the special vaccination days in Visayas and Mindanao on September 26, while Luzon had its launch on September 27 after it was delayed by Super Typhoon "Karding." (HDT/SunStar Philippines)