Ten Philippine regions have at least 70 percent of their target populations fully vaccinated against Covid-19, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Monday.
In his report to President Rodrigo Duterte, Galvez said the following regions had reached the 70-percent vaccination threshold:
- Metro Manila (114.1 percent)
- Region 1 (86.4 percent)
- Region 2 (83.58 percent)
- Region 3 (83.4 percent)
- Cordillera Administrative Region (82.51 percent)
- Region 4-A (79.77 percent)
- Region 6 (79.09 percent)
- Region 11 (74.72 percent)
- Region 10 (74.68 percent)
- Region 9 (70.83 percent)
Six regions have the majority of their population fully vaccinated against Covid-19, Galvez said.
These are:
- Region 5 (69.96 percent)
- Region 8 (69.93 percent)
- Caraga (69.75 percent)
- Mimaropa (68.56 percent)
- Region 7 (64.53 percent)
- Region 12 (61.25 percent)
Galvez said vaccine hesitancy remained high in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao which only had 28.02 percent of its target population fully vaccinated.
“Kung makikita po natin iyong percentage nila is 28 percent. Hindi po umaangat,” he said.
Duterte earlier said he wanted leaders of Muslim communities to encourage their constituents to receive Covid-19 vaccines, claiming that claimed that Muslims were refusing vaccines due to their religion and culture.
The World Health Organization has said that Covid-19 vaccines are halal.
A recent Social Weather Stations survey found that vaccine skepticism in Mindanao has been declining.
The number of Filipinos in Mindanao opposed to receiving Covid-19 vaccines dropped from 25 percent to eight percent in December 2021, according to the survey. John Ezekiel J. Hirro