'NEW NORMAL' ROADSHOW. DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III (center), Secretary Vicencio Dizon (left), the national testing czar, and Mayor Junard Chan attend the “Bida Tungo sa New Normal Roadshow” at a hotel in Lapu-Lapu City on Friday (March 18, 2022). The National Task Force's Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (CODE) team visit in Cebu was done to encourage Central Visayas local governments to ramp up inoculation of their senior citizens against the coronavirus disease 2019 and satisfy other requirements to transition to Alert Level 1. (Screengrab from PIA-7 video)
CEBU CITY – The National Task Force against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is optimistic that local government units (LGUs) in Central Visayas will be able to transition toward Alert Level 1, even as it encouraged localities to ramp up inoculation for the senior citizens during the “Bida Tungo sa New Normal Roadshow.”
Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, who led other NTF officials in the Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (CODE) team visit in Lapu-Lapu City on Friday, appealed to the LGUs “to really make sure that the war against the Covid-19 pandemic is won decisively.”
“(I am) personally appealing to all of you to help us in our campaign to reach our 19 million [elderly] Filipinos, the target by the end of the term of President Rodrigo Duterte. If we do this together, I have no doubt that we will be able to conquer this. We will be able to win the war against this pandemic,” Duque said.
The DOH chief said that vaccination is vital and a game-changer, thus the need of the people to be protected against Covid-19 and to achieve normalcy in the life of every Cebuano, even as he stressed the need to bolster inoculation for the elderly population.
“This (A2 vaccination rate) is the weakness of many LGUs when it comes to reaching their target,” Duque said.
Secretary Vivencio Dizon, the designated national testing czar, assured LGUs in Region 7 of the national government’s help to achieve the desired target coverage for the elderly population.
“We don’t want what is happening now in Hong Kong and in other countries to happen here where there is [another] surge in Covid-19 cases,” Dizon said in Filipino.
Dizon urged the localities here to work with civic groups and the DOH to convince senior citizens to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
“Let’s find the senior citizens. Let’s go to their homes. Let’s convince them,” he added, emphasizing that the effort to reach the target “is not yet finished.”
Lapu-Lapu City
DOH-7 regional director Jaime Bernadas, who made a presentation of their agency’s vaccination efforts, admitted the need to reconcile data on the senior citizens being enrolled by the Office of the Senior Citizen’s Affairs (OSCA) of different LGUs and the assigned population of elderlies eligible for inoculation.
Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan, in his speech during the event, appealed to the national government to reconsider its earlier pronouncement excluding the island city from the 48 areas downgraded to Alert Level 1.
Chan said data showed that Lapu-Lapu has been able to minimize Covid-19 transmission, and vaccinate its eligible population as well as reach the desired coverage based on the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) guidelines.
“Our presence here today is a testament that we have bounced back from the pandemic and our city’s economy is now back on track. Our doors are now open to welcome everyone, local and foreign tourists if they are vaccinated. Our tourism industry is virtually normalizing and in no time tourists' arrival will hit its peak just as the pre-pandemic time,” Chan said.
He said the city has achieved a 73-percent vaccination coverage for their senior citizens, contrary to the data from the regional office of the DOH which showed they have not yet reached the 70-percent ceiling.
Data validation
Duque said the National Vaccination Operations Center will make a final validation of the figures submitted by the city of Lapu-Lapu, to find out if it indeed “reached the very important targets allowing (it) to be de-escalated to Alert Level 1.”
“Hopefully by Monday, we will see with more certainty whether that particular matrix has, in fact, been complied with,” the DOH secretary said.
An 80-percent vaccination coverage of elderly citizens is the fourth requirement before an area can be allowed to transition to the lowest alert level against the Covid-19.
The first three requirements are the low Covid-19 caseload, low bed capacity utilization rate in hospitals, and fully vaccinating 70 percent of the population.
“But I have no doubt whatsoever, that given the dynamism and leadership if this progressive city of Lapu-Lapu, I have no doubt whatsoever that eventually, you will be able to reach all of this final four matrix so that you can fully open up the capacities for the various establishments,” Duque said. (PNA)
