Davao City Covid-19 Task Force Spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser said in a radio interview on Wednesday, April 6, that the “family profiling” is another strategy of the local government to have a “conversation” with locals who remain apprehensive about getting inoculated.
Schlosser said the City will be deploying 1,000 contract tracers undergoing training for this “family profiling” before their deployment to various communities in coordination with the Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs) and health district offices.
She said the contract tracers will be gathering information on the immunization status to know how many children have yet to receive routine vaccines, including, among others, those vaccines for the prevention of measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), flu, and Covid-19 vaccines.
The official said the data gathered by the profilers will be used by the barangays to intensify the education campaign of the local government on vaccination. This is due to the low turnout of parents availing of the vaccines offered by the city government for free.
“We will never stop educating them, informing them, giving them data na safe and effective ang vaccines sa mga bata (that the vaccines are safe and effective to children especially those) five to 11 years old,” Schlosser said.
Schlosser, however, clarified that this is not similar to the household tagging or mapping of their residents that are already fully vaccinated against Covid-19 that was initiated by some other barangays in the city.
“Ginaingnan nato atong mga (We directed our) contact tracers to convince the families, the parents, and the guardians, maghatag og edukasyon impormasyon regarding sa benepisyo sa bakuna para mas ma-open ang minds sa katawhan (to educate and provide information of the benefits of the vaccines to open their minds). We will be utilizing every single strategies para lang gyud mapataas nato atong vaccinees sa maong age group (just to increase the vaccine coverage of these age groups),” she said.
While she clarified that the vaccination is not mandatory, she also emphasized the cooperation of the public.
She added that getting vaccinated will not only protect one’s self, but the entire community.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said in an interview on Monday, April 4, that the “profiling” is part of the City Government’s effort of bringing the vaccines to the communities after noting a low turnout of vaccinees in the designated vaccination hubs.
Duterte-Carpio, who is not in favor of making the Covid-19 vaccination mandatory, said the City cannot force Dabawenyos if they chose not to get vaccinated.
“Dili gyud mapugos ang tao kung dili siya magpabakuna, dili gyud nato mapugos ang tao kay walay balaod sa mandatory vaccination sa Covid-19,” she said.
(We cannot force the people if they don’t want to get vaccinated since there is no existing law on the mandatory Covid-19 vaccination.)
The mayor added that those who refused to get vaccinated understood the consequences of their decision.
