Department of Health (DOH)-Central Visayas regional director Dr. Jaime Bernadas and DOH-7 regional medical coordinator for emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases Dr. Van Philip Baton. (Screengrab from DOH-7 video)
CEBU CITY – The Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) will conduct a three-day house-to-house vaccination activity in towns and component cities of Cebu province to ramp up inoculation, especially of senior citizens.
Dr. Jaime Bernadas, DOH-7 regional director, said in a presser on Monday the intensified campaign against coronavirus disease (Covid-19) also targets children and people with comorbidities, aside from the unvaccinated elderlies.
“To everyone, avail of this privilege, these commodities given by our government… that has an enormous investment for the vaccines to be given to the people for free. We shall have to reach the target that we have set for ourselves, at least 70 percent of the general population,” Bernadas said.
He noted that some localities are still lagging in terms of vaccination accomplishment, thus the need to initiate the three-day region-wide inoculation efforts, with a focus on towns and component cities of Cebu province, as a “final ditch to eliminate if not conquer coronavirus disease 2019”.
Dr. Van Philip Baton, DOH-7 regional medical coordinator for emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, said based on data, Central Visayas has vaccinated 62.8 percent of the total eligible population.
According to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), only this city and Lapu-Lapu City have met the required inoculation coverage for both the general population and A2 category or senior citizens for a locality to transition to an Alert Level 1 status.
Cebu City is now under Alert Level 1 but the IATF is still validating the corrected records of Lapu-Lapu City after it appealed for a lowered alert status during the National Task Force against Covid-19 roadshow here on March 18.
Among the Central Visayas provinces, Cebu’s vaccination for elderlies reached only 40 percent coverage as compared to Negros Oriental's 45 percent, Bohol's 50 percent, and Siquijor's 88 percent.
“Even if majority of working-class are vaccinated, there is still the danger that if our senior citizens are lagging behind. It really (has an) impact on the mortality rate. Based on the latest data report from media, Hong Kong currently has the highest per capita mortality of the countries that are showing surges. We don’t want (it) to happen here,” Baton said. (PNA)
