VAX FOR SENIORS. Department of Health-Central Visayas Family Health Department officer, Dr. Joan Antonette Albito, answers newsmen's queries on the sidelines of the Open Line media forum in Cebu City on Tuesday (May 9, 2023). Albito said the agency needs the help of the public to increase the vaccination count for senior citizens, now that the public health emergency declaration has been lifted by the World Health Organization. (PNA photo by John Rey Saavedra)
CEBU CITY – A Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) official on Tuesday said vaccination for senior citizens in the region is a concern now that the World Health Organization (WHO) has lifted the global public health emergency.
Dr. Joan Antonette Albito, DOH-7’s family health section officer, said the agency needs the help of families whose elderly members have not yet taken the primary doses of the vaccine so that they could be given ample protection against Covid-19.
“The virus is still very much around. Our seniors are the most vulnerable of all sectors… The risk that we would revert back to the pandemic is still there. It’s too early to relax,” she told reporters during the Open Line media forum hosted by Erik Espina.
Albito told the Philippine News Agency in a massage that the latest DOH-7 record showed that only 61 percent of the region's target population of senior citizens have been fully vaccinated while about 26 percent received their first booster jabs.
She admitted that many of the elderly in the region would not want to get vaccinated, thus, the very low turnout of this sector in local vaccination sites here.
With the help of the household members, Albito said the health department is hopeful of improving the vaccination count for the elderly sector.
“We encourage vaccination because that’s the only way that we can sustain this public health emergency status. Without vaccination, the possibility of the risk of getting an outbreak is still there,” she added.
Meanwhile, the DOH medical officer said the lifting of the public health emergency is not a “permit” for everyone to be complacent, even as she stressed that the possibility of contracting the virus is still high.
She said there is no harm if the public would still observe the minimum health standards, especially the wearing of face masks, for the sake of people with health conditions. (PNA)
