The Central Visayas Department of Health (DOH 7) is set to hold a mass vaccination campaign in all Local Government Units (LGUs) in Cebu province next week.
Dindin Montesclaros Hayag, DOH 7 Education and Health Promotion Manager, said this following the announcement by Undersecretary of Health Maria Rosario Vergeire on Friday, March 25, 2022, that the national government will carry out a special vaccination against Covid-19 in the central Visayas, in particular in Cebu. .
The DOH is set to deploy additional vaccination teams to Cebu for the March 29-31 mass vaccination campaign.
Hayag said they will use all possible strategies for vaccination, adding that home and mobile vaccination, outside of fixed sites, is strongly encouraged.
Vergeire said earlier that deploying more teams was their way of helping not only the Central Visayas but also the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm) increase their vaccination rates.
“Our teams will go to these areas to help them increase their vaccination rate),” Vergeire said during a press briefing in Malacañang.
In the province of Cebu, about 54% have been fully vaccinated among the total number of eligible vaccinates as of March 24.
In Metro Cebu, 68.93% of its eligible population had been fully immunized, while North Cebu and South Cebu have 38.80 and 34.60% respectively.
Underperforming LGUs
Data from DOH 7 showed the 10 worst performing LGUS in North and South Cebu.
In North Cebu, the city of Tabogon had the lowest vaccination rate at 24.68%; Tuburan with 25.89%; San Fernando with 28.74%; Tabuelan with 29.76%; Asturias with 34.69%; Catmon with 34.84%; San Remegio with 35.58%; Danao City with 37.35%; Poro with 38.55%; Daanbantayan with 39.07%; and Balamban with 39.92%.
In South Cebu, Aloguinsan also had the lowest vaccination rate with 22.65 of its total eligible population; Alegria with 25.84%; Dumanjug with 28.17%; Dalaguete with 29.36%; Carcar City with 30.59%; Pinamungajan with 31.69%; Malbuyoc with 33.03%; Toledo City with 33.33%; Barili with 34.01%; Samboan with 34.77%; and Ginatilan with 35.26%.
Of Metro Cebu’s nine LGUs, only Cebu City has so far been defused from Alert Level 2 to Alert Level 1.
National tally
In his report during President Rodrigo Duterte’s address to the people on Monday evening, National Covid-19 Task Force Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said that of the target population of 6,572,248 in the Central Visayas, only 62.26% or 4,091,921 were fully vaccinated, while only 518,207 or 7.88% received booster doses.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority count, the total population of Central Visayas is 8,147,078.
In Barmm, 3,516,278 people are targeted to receive Covid-19 injections, but only 926,540 or 26.35% are currently fully vaccinated, while 72,737 or 2.07% have received booster shots.
Barmm has a total of 4,358,837 people.
Vergeire urged the public and local government units in both regions to participate in the vaccination campaign.
She noted the importance of vaccination against Covid-19, not only in the first series but also booster doses to strengthen a person’s protection against the virus.
She reiterated that studies have found that immunity to the virus wanes over time, especially due to variants.
As of March 24, a total of 65,528,820 people in the country had been fully vaccinated, while 70,714,774 had received their first dose.
A total of 11,743,345 booster doses were also administered.
For adolescents aged 12 to 17, 9,783,000 received the first dose, while 8,899,582 were fully vaccinated.
For the vaccination of children aged 5 to 11, a total of 736,143 were fully vaccinated, while 1,778,806 received their first vaccination. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)