ILOILO – To encourage more Ilonggos to have themselves vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. said he would escalate the vaccination information drive in the barangays.
“Mangampanya gid kita so that ma-encourage naton sila nga magpabakuna. We will do everything,” said Defensor.
In the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination information drive in the municipality of Igbaras, “only three out of at least a hundred” people are willing to be inoculated, revealed by Mayor Jaime Esmeralda recently.
The mayor cited the vaccines’ possible side effects as top reason why Igbaranons were skeptical if not fearful.
Some said they wanted more information first, while others said they would “wait and see.”
Defensor said the provincial government, through the Provincial Health Office, would immerse into the barangays for consultations and vaccine education. They would also seek help from the media and Rural Health Units for information dissemination.
“Sa subong indi ina naton mapilit. Ang importante nga ma-edukar naton sila para nga makumbinser naton nga makabulig ini sa inyo kag ginpangbudlayan ini sang gobyerno,” Defensor stressed.
According to the governor, information drive on COVID-19 vaccination was one of the nine components written in the province’s COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment and Immunization Plan 2021-2022 (COVAC PLAN 21-22).
Defensor pointed out the “acceptance and uptake” component in particular.
The other components were:
* planning and coordination
* financing and funding mechanisms
* identification of eligible population
* vaccination procurement and delivery strategies
* cold chain, supply and health care waste management
* human resource management and training
* vaccine immunization safety monitoring, adverse event following immunization/adverse event of special interest (AEFI/AESI), and post marketing surveillance and management, and pharmacovigilance
* immunization, registration, monitoring and data management systems
In early December, the provincial government ordered 270,000 doses of AZD1222 Vaccine through a tripartite agreement with British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca and the national government. An initial budget of P95 million was allotted.
The doses could vaccinate more or less 135,000 frontliners in the province.
The vaccines’ expected arrival is by the second or third quarter of the year.
Aside from frontline health workers, included in the priority list were the following:
* indigent senior citizens
* remaining senior citizens
* remaining indigent population
* uniformed personnel
* all government workers
* teachers and school workers
* students
* essential workers
* socio-demographic groups at significant higher risk other than senior citizens
* indigent population (e.g. persons deprived of liberty, persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and Filipinos living in high-density areas)
* overseas Filipinos workers
* other remaining workforce * remaining citizens/PN
