MANILA – The Duterte administration is ramping up its efforts to raise its daily vaccination target to one million amid the surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the country, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said on Saturday.

Panelo issued the statement, in response to Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo’s call to further step up the government’s mass immunization drive against COVID-19.

During his commentary show, Counterpoint, Panelo said the goal of National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito “Charlie” Galvez Jr. and his team is to make the vaccination efforts more aggressive amid the prevailing pandemic.

“Tandaan niyo ho, iyang si Secretary Charlie (Galvez), yung mga in charge sa bakuna, ang target niyan ever since December 70 percent vaccination ng adult population para makuha natin ang herd immunity,” Panelo said.

He said critics need not remind the government to aim for a higher number of people who will get inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Kahit na wala kayong sasabihin, merong mga programa iyan,” he said. “Kaya hintayin na lang. Kayong mga kritiko, huwag kayong padalos-dalos. Pasok kayo ng pasok eh.”

Robredo on Tuesday lauded the Duterte administration’s vaccination efforts but stressed the need to administer one million vaccines daily amid the threat posed by the more transmissible Delta COVID-19 variant.

NTF Against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer and testing czar Vivencio Dizon said the government is already looking at raising its daily vaccination target to one million, subject to supply availability.

The Philippines recorded its highest number of administered jabs in one day on August 5 after around 710,482 people were vaccinated that day.

It was also able to administer a total of 3,478,082 vaccine doses from August 6 to 12.

The country’s daily average jab rate currently stands at 519,828.

The Duterte government’s goal is to inoculate up to 70 million Filipinos within 2021 to achieve population protection.

As of August 12, around 12,182,006 people have already been fully vaccinated, while some 14,495,263 have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.  Philippine News Agency