The Philippines has already administered 43,933,886 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine nationwide, the National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF) reported on Monday.

Data from the National Covid-19 vaccination dashboard showed that as of September 26, a total of 23,626,764 are waiting for their second doses.

The 20,307,122 who have obtained full protection against the dreaded virus represent about 26 percent of the target 70 million eligible adult Filipinos.

The average daily jabs administered in the last seven days slightly decreased to 359,982 doses compared to 367,105 the previous week.

NTF chief Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. attributed the slowdown to the increased number of Covid-19 cases in recent weeks, diverting some health care workers’ services to treatment facilities and hospitals.

To date, the Philippines has received 69,699,340 doses — procured, donated, and from the COVAX Facility.

The latest shipment consisted of 3 million doses of the government-procured Sinovac jab which arrived on Sunday night.

“We encourage everybody to avail of whatever brands of vaccines are available because they are all very effective in preventing severe cases, hospitalization, and death,” Galvez said in an interview at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Termina 2 in Pasay City.

The government aims to fully vaccinate 30 percent of the eligible population within this month and start planning the inoculation of minors aged 12 to 17 years.

About 100 million Covid-19 doses are slated to be delivered until the end of October. (PNA)