(**Agency**) THE PHILIPPINES aims to fully vaccinate 77 million people against the coronavirus by the end of March, according to the presidential palace, as the government tries to boost defenses against more contagious variants.

“We expect 77 million Filipinos to be fully vaccinated by the end of the first quarter given the rate of our vaccine rollout,” Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei B. Nograles told a news briefing on Tuesday, citing vaccine czar Carlito G. Galvez, Jr.

About 90 million people will have been fully protected against the coronavirus by end-June, he added.

Mr. Nograles said the government injected an average of 987,045 doses daily on Jan. 10 to 14, with about 2.5 million more people having been fully inoculated.

“While these numbers are very encouraging, moving forward, the government plans to concentrate on regions and areas with more unvaccinated people to ensure that a greater proportion of our population in the provinces are protected from COVID,” he added.