BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The provincial government of Negros Occidental has two vaccination teams in Bago City and Kabankalan City augmenting their vaccination efforts in the ongoing round of the National Vaccination Days (Feb. 10 and Feb. 11) against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz,said the Provincial Health Office (PHO) and the Hospital Operations Division (HOD) are on top of it.
“The target is for our teams to inoculate 1,000 persons in the two locations,” he added.
As an appreciation of the provincial government to those participating in the vaccination campaign, each will receive two kilos of rice from the provincial capitol.
Negros Occidental is eyeing to keep its being the top performing province in Western Visayas in the national vaccination rollout.
Earlier, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson reminded the PHO to ensure full vaccination output, and the cooperation of every local government unit.
The provincial government is aiming to reach its target population of 1.825 million for COVID-19) vaccination this February. The number is equivalent to 70 percent of the province’s 2.607 million total population.
Lacson said there is a need to exert effort to meet the target.
“We should really give it a final push if we want to meet the February deadline so it would be a photo finish. I think we are now 60 percent of our target. That’s still 40 percent, it really takes a lot of effort to meet,” he added.
Lacson said he is optimistic Negros Occidental can “finally reach herd immunity” by meeting the target within the month.
Data from the Provincial Health Office further showed at least nine local government units have reached more than 70 percent of their target population with at least one dose.
Earlier, Dr. Ernell Tumimbang, provincial health officer, said the government’s advocacy is important in convincing the people to avail themselves of the COVID-19 jabs.
He added though there is an abundant supply of vaccines, there are no takers, particularly in areas with less than 50 percent accomplishment rate.
“There are still those who don’t know why they need to get vaccinated and are not aware of the importance of the vaccine, that’s a major concern,” Tumimbang said. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
