Zambo City recalls curfew reso for non-boosted individuals

ZAMBOANGA CITY – The local Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has recalled an earlier resolution seeking to impose curfew for the non-boosted individuals in the city.

Dr. Elmier Apolinario, City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO) chief, cited impracticality and manpower constraints as main reasons for the recall of the resolution, which the local IATF-EID approved during its meeting on Aug. 4.

In a statement Wednesday, Apolinario said they have observed that the number of people going out on the streets from 12 midnight to 4 a.m. was minimal when they conducted validation.

A validation was made as a requirement to be submitted to the mayor for the issuance of an executive order to impose curfew for the non-boosted residents.

Apolinario said the police and barangay manpower will be unnecessarily stretched in manning the checkpoints on almost empty streets and in conducting roving activities.

“Instead of imposing curfew, there are other measures to compensate and intensify the vaccine booster endeavors,” he said.

These measures, he said, include house-to-house campaign, barangay involvement, mobile vaccination teams, and conduct of a more aggressive information and education campaign.

Dr. Dulce Amor Miravite, city health officer, vowed to intensify her office’s mobile vaccination teams in the establishments and institutions to encourage fully vaccinated individuals to get vaccine booster.

Latest data of the City Health Office showed that 168,734 out of the 679,976 fully vaccinated residents of the city have received their first vaccine booster dose and 7,311 got their second booster jab.

All fully vaccinated individuals are eligible to receive first vaccine booster while for second booster are those 18 to 49 years old with comorbidity, 50 years old up and frontline health workers. (PNA)