BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental sees reaching herd immunity against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by February next year.
It is possible, according to Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, if 300,000 doses are administered to Negrenses per month.
Earlier, the National Inter-Agency Task Force pegged the ideal herd immunity rate at 70 percent of an area’s total population as being vaccinated.
“Herd immunity”, also known as “population immunity”, according to the World Health Organization, is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection.
As of this writing, Negros Occidental vaccinated around 300,000 Negrenses or 15 percent of the target population.
Lacson said the national government is also considering pediatric vaccination (children aged 12 to 17 years old), so their target “could go beyond 70 percent” of the total population.
Meanwhile, local government units (LGUs) in Negros Occidental resorted to creative ways to encourage more residents to get vaccinated, such as offering freebies or holding raffle draws.
The most recent to introduce rewards was the La Carlota City government that conducted a raffle draw.
The city government is offering three brand new tricycles, three units of laptops and three high-end mobile phones.
Lacson said LGUs were given a free hand to entice their constituents to get vaccinated./PN