TARGET IN SIGHT. Arjohn Gangoso, health education and promotion officer of the Department of Health-Region 12, said on Thursday (May 6, 2021) that a total of 57,058 health workers in the region’s four provinces and five cities were already vaccinated based on validated data from rural health units as of May 3. He added that the region is closing in on its target in the continuing inoculation of health front-liners health against the coronavirus disease 2019. (PNA GenSan file photo)
GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The Department of Health (DOH) in Region 12 (Soccsksargen) is closing in on its target in the continuing inoculation of frontline health care workers in the area against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Arjohn Gangoso, DOH-Region 12 health education, and promotion officer, said Thursday a total of 57,058 health workers in the region’s four provinces and five cities were already vaccinated based on validated data from rural health units (RHU) as of May 3.
He said 49,459 of them received their first doses of AstraZeneca and Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine while 7,599 have completed the required two doses.
The number of vaccinated health workers under the priority A1 category is about 92 percent of the earlier 62,328 target in the region.
“We’re hoping to eventually meet our target since the vaccination activities are still ongoing,” he told reporters.
Gangoso said they already submitted a request to their central office for the allocation of additional vaccines for the remaining recipients.
DOH-12 already started last month the vaccination of eligible senior citizens under the A2 category using the CoronaVac.
As of 6 p.m. on May 3, a total of 12,158 senior citizens in the region already received their first doses as the inoculation resumed this week using the 14,400 CoronaVac doses delivered for the area last May 1.
Meantime, Gangoso said they continued with their expanded bio-surveillance activities in the region against the possible presence of other Covid-19 variants.
He said they have sent additional samples submitted by the RHUs to the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center for sequencing to check for the “variants of concern.”
The cases of new variants confirmed among residents from the region remained at 12, mostly Overseas Filipino Workers who were detected in Metro Manila and have already recovered, he said.
These are the mutant variants first detected in the United Kingdom (UK) or B.1.1.7, South Africa or B.1.351, and Brazil or P.1.
The active Covid-19 cases in the entire Soccksargen as of Wednesday increased to 834, one of the highest since the onset of the pandemic last year.
South Cotabato province posted the highest number of active infections with 397, followed by this city with 181, North Cotabato with 130, Sarangani with 71, and Sultan Kudarat with 55.
The confirmed Covid-19 cases in the region already reached a total of 7,720, with 260 related deaths and 6,624 recoveries. (PNA)
