A total of 1,839,846 college students have been vaccinated against Covid-19 so far, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chair J. Prospero de Vera III said on Wednesday.

In an online media briefing, de Vera said the figure is equivalent to 45.91 percent of the tertiary student population which has reached 4,007,795 as of November 25.

“That is a significant increase because after the first two weeks of vaccination in October our vaccination rate was less than 30 percent. We’re now at almost 56 percent,” he said.

He noted there are still problematic areas nationwide in terms of tertiary students vaccination particularly in Region 5 (Bicol), Region 12 (Soccsksargen), and Region 4B (Mimaropa).

“Some of these, like in Mimaropa, because of the island character of the area but there are regions like Region 9 where the vaccination level is 75 percent already,” he added. “So, what we’re doing in these areas is we’re pushing for school-based vaccination,”.

Earlier, CHED said school-based vaccination is easier because schools have master lists of vaccinated and unvaccinated students and they have facilities for appropriate inoculation activities.

Meantime, some 239,431 or 82.45 percent of 290,380 higher education institution (HEI) personnel, both teaching and non-teaching, have been vaccinated.

For the three-day national vaccination program that ended Wednesday, about 375 HEIs and 10,504 student and personnel volunteers have participated, with 244,064 tertiary students targeted to be vaccinated.

Some 166 HEIs have offered their facilities as vaccination sites. (PNA)