SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union – Some 23,213 teaching and non-teaching personnel of the Department of Education (DepEd) in Ilocos Region have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) as of November 23.
In a phone interview on Thursday, Dr. Romarie Castillo, medical officer and education support services of DepEd Ilocos, said of the total number, 19,680 are teachers while the 3,533 are non-teaching personnel.
She said 537 are under A1 category or workers in essential health services as some of the personnel are registered nurses while some 1,016 are under A2 or senior citizens, 9,701 are individuals with comorbidities or A3 category, and 11,959 are under A4 or workers in the frontline essential sector.
“Tumaas bilang ng mga nagpapabakuna dahil mas pinipili nila Pfizer and Moderna unlike dati na wala masyadong supply (The number of vaccinated personnel increased because of their preferred brands Pfizer and Moderna that unlike before had low supply),” she added.
Meanwhile, some 26,423 teaching and 4,403 non-teaching DepEd personnel in the Ilocos Region have already received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine.
Some 11, 687 teaching and 1,502 non-teaching personnel have registered and are waiting for their schedule of inoculation.
However, some 5,357 teaching and 621 non-teaching staff have not yet registered for the immunization program.
Castillo said some of the personnel who refuse to register for the vaccination still have fears but these are being addressed by DepEd through information campaigns and counseling.
“Ginagalang kapasiyahan DepEd personnel. Mayroon silang constitutional rights na magpabakuna o hindi. But we continuously guide them and help them make informed decisions. Happy to tell you na bumababa naman bilang guro na may hesitancy sa vaccination (We respect the decision of the DepEd personnel. They have their constitutional rights to get vaccinated or not. But we continuously guide and help them make informed decisions. We are happy to tell you that the number of personnel that have hesitancy has been decreasing),” DepEd Ilocos Region director Dr. Tolentino Aquino said in a recent interview.
He said this does not affect the preparation of the region for the limited face-to-face (F2F) classes next year.
“One of the requirements for the schools that will be part of the limited F2F classes is that the personnel are all fully vaccinated,” he added. (PNA)
