BACOLOD City – The Negros Occidental provincial government is planning to hold a house-to-house coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccination campaign for senior citizens to boost coverage rate among the elderly population.
Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz II said on Tuesday reaching the senior citizens or the A2 sector, especially those living in the rural areas, remains a challenge.
“It’s how to convince (them) to go to the vaccination centers and receive their jabs. It’s difficult for them to travel because of their age. What we are suggesting is, to really go house-to-house,” he told reporters.
Diaz said barangay health workers will be tapped to assist in generating demand among the target vaccinees by convincing and educating these senior citizens to get vaccinated for their protection.
“We hope to come up with more incentives for senior citizens who get vaccinated,” he added.
One of these is providing them additional benefits under the Negros Occidental Comprehensive Health Program.
Under the program, only the head of the family is granted membership to avail of yearly medical assistance, but once both spouses get vaccinated, the other spouse will also be granted membership, thereby doubling the benefits available for their family.
Diaz said the Provincial Health Office is coming up with a master list of the still unvaccinated senior citizens.
“We want to identify who they are, how many are they, and where they are,” he said.
Diaz pointed out the low vaccination coverage rate among the Negrense elderly is the reason why Negros Occidental remains at Alert Level 2 and cannot yet be de-escalated to Alert Level 1, the lowest category in the country’s Covid-19 alert level system.
“There is a vulnerable sector, which is the senior citizens, who are not considered protected by the Department of Health (DOH). Unless the number of unvaccinated seniors will decrease, Negros Occidental will have to stay in Alert Level 2,” he said.
Data of the DOH-Western Visayas showed that as of March 14, only 128,266 individuals aged 60 and above have been fully vaccinated in Negros Occidental, still the lowest in Region 6 in terms of percentage.
The number is only 47.58 percent of the 269,602 target population in the A2 category.
Some 134,245 senior citizens or 49.79 percent have availed of the first dose. (PNA)
