ILOILO City – Over 4.5 million Western Visayans are now fully vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), data from the Department of Health (DOH) showed.
As of Feb. 21, these 4,519,058 fully vaccinated persons represented 70.32 percent of the 6,226,433 target population in the region.
Here’s the breakdown of the vaccinated:
* 132,060 – A1 or healthcare workers
* 146,322 – expanded A1 (outbound overseas Filipino workers, healthcare workers’ families)
* 531,516 – Group A2 or senior citizens
* 607,296 – A3 or adults with comorbidities
* 5,024 – expanded A3 or pregnant women
* 1,081,972 – A4 or essential workers w
* 886,996 – A5 or indigent population
* 483,738 – ROAP (rest of adult population)
* 17,904 — A3 or pediatric aged 12 to 17 with comorbidities
* 626,230 – rest of 12 to 17 years old pediatric population
DOH data also showed that 4.7 million more residents in region received one of dose of COVID-19 vaccine while 499,719 already got booster shots.
The national government will change its strategies to strengthen its national vaccination program against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), a health official said Monday.
This, after the third edition of the “Bayanihan, Bakunahan” COVID-19 vaccination drive which ran from Feb. 10 to 18 failed to reach its five million target population.
“It’s 3.447 million, about 68.94 percent. And we learn a lot from the challenges of this vaccination,” Health undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said in a televised public briefing.
Cabotaje, also chief of the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC), said the government will bring the vaccination sites closer to the people, especially in areas where many are not yet inoculated against Covid-19.
“Secondly, the urgency of the booster; so, we need to strengthen the advocacy about the advantage of a booster,” she said.
The third wave of the national vaccination drive aims to provide booster shorts for over 3 million individuals or two-thirds of the target population. “But only a million showed up for the booster shots because people don’t see the urgency of receiving it, they know the importance of vaccines and booster, but they do not understand the urgency,” Cabotaje said.
She added only 19 percent of the senior citizens and 44 percent of healthcare workers have received their booster shots. Both are priority groups in the national government’s vaccination campaign.
“We need to adjust by area and by sector kung ano ‘yung kailangan nating gawin (on what we need to do) for booster,” she said.
The NVOC has observed many do not want to receive booster shots because they cannot afford to miss a day or two from their work.
It has also seen a brand preference among those registering for booster shots during the last wave of the national vaccination drive.
“Marami pa rin ‘yung ating mRNA, Pfizer, AstraZeneca. Marami rin ang tumanggap ng AstraZeneca at may ilan din na tumanggap ng Sinovac,” Cabotaje said./PN