THE Philippine National Police (PNP) raised to 98.66% its booster vaccination rate as of Thursday.

In its latest coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) tracker, the PNP said some 220,469 out of 223,464 fully vaccinated personnel already have the added protection against the virus.

Overall, 99.71% of the 224,117-strong police force is already vaccinated.

Some 208 (0.09%) are waiting for their second shots, while 445 personnel (0.20%) remained unvaccinated.

Meanwhile, no new COVID-19 cases were recorded as of Thursday, leaving the number of active infections to just two.

The PNP Health Office data showed that 48,867 cases have been recorded since the pandemic two years ago – 48,736 recovered, and 129 died.

The government is eyeing vaccinating 8.3 million more to reach its target of 77 million by the end of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s term on June 30.

At the “Laging Handa” public briefing on Tuesday, National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) chairperson and Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje reported that 68.7 million Filipinos have received two primary doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Another 4.5 million are due for second doses.

Cabotaje also said the government still needs to vaccinate some five million aged 5 to 11 and about 1 million in the 12 to 17 age group.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has encouraged public and private educational institutions to ramp up their vaccination rates.

“Sinabi ko mas maaga pa na marami pa rin tayong mga school children aged 5 to 11 na puwede pang bakunahan,” she said.

She assured the government has enough supply of 15 million reformulated doses for the 5 to 11 bracket and regular doses for the remaining unvaccinated adult population. Philippine News Agency