ABOUT 40 million fully vaccinated Filipinos have been encouraged by the Department of Health (DOH) to come out and get their booster shots against coronavirus disease (Covid-19).In a televised public briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said an estimated 40 million individuals are already eligible to get their booster shots but they have yet to take them.”Our eligible population for the first booster shot would be around 55 million individuals. Currently, 15.2 million Filipinos have already gotten their booster shots,” said Vergeire.”So, we are looking at around 40 million eligible Filipinos who are still yet to receive their booster shots,” she added.Last Wednesday, July 6, the DOH reported that merely 15,176,466 booster shots, or 19.43 percent of the total eligible individuals in the country, have been administered.The DOH also noted how all regions reported less than 50 percent booster shot coverage.Vergeire said this is the reason why Marcos wants the DOH to enhance its efforts to jab more Filipinos eligible for booster shots.”We want to focus our efforts on boosting, especially in those regions that are lagging behind so that they can increase their coverage rate,” said the health official.She said among their strategies will be to bring the inoculation drive closer to the communities, including the conduct of house-to-house vaccination activities, especially for senior citizens.”We will bring the vaccines closer to the communities. We will look for those that have no access to the vaccines, those living in remote areas,” said Vergeire.She also said they are looking to tap the help of the Department of Education, Department of Labor and Employment, and Department of the Interior and Local Government, among others.”We would want to have a whole of government approach for this endeavor,” said Vergeire. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)