ILOILO City – Western Visayans aged 60 years old and older are encouraged to submit themselves for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination.
The elderly population is next in line, per the prioritization of the Department of Health (DOH) and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).
Western Visayas had more or less 600,000 senior citizens, according to DOH. As of April 5, about 30,000 have been listed for vaccination.
“We are expecting nga madugangan pa ini,” said Dr. Mary Jane Juanico, head of the infectious disease cluster of DOH Region 6, “kay padayun pa ang pagsulod sang data sa aton electronic immunization registry.”
“Our elderly ang pinaka-vulnerable nga part sang population so mas manami gid nga makapabakuna sila,” Juanico told Panay News.
There’s no registration deadline. However, the health department is enjoining senior citizens who have not submitted their names yet to contact their barangay officials, local government units or associations as early as possible.
Although all age groups are at risk of contracting COVID-19, the elderly faces a significant risk of developing a severe form of the illness due to physiological changes that come with ageing and potential underlying health conditions.
DOH-6 has an ongoing registration among senior citizen associations across the region.
Most LGUs just started listing “kay bag-o lang man natapos ang ila pagpanglista sa healthcare workers.”
Why register?
Juanico said it is best that they have an idea as to how many vaccines they would allocate for the elderly population.
The health official said they will inoculate first the senior citizens included in the master list.
As for those who signified willingness at a later date, they will be given the anti-coronavirus shot “kon may available pa.”
Juanico said they have yet to announce the schedule of vaccination for the elderly.
“So far wala pa man available nga vaccine sa senior citizens kay ginahulat ta nga maabot ang iya sang AstraZeneca,” she added.
On the other hand, Juanico said, as of this writing, there were 29,950 Western Visayan healthcare workers who already received their first those of either the China-made CoronaVac or AstraZeneca vaccines.
“Masaka pa ini because ongoing pa ang paghatag sang vaccine sa aton healthcare workers sa region,” Juanico said./PN
