By Perla Lena / Philippine News Agency
The City Health Office (CHO) reported on Friday that 55.77 percent or 292,788 out of its target 525,000 eligible population are already fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
The latest data as of October 14 also showed 336,248 or 64.05 percent have already received their first dose.
As of Friday, the CHO has recorded 5,322 registrants who belong to the 12 to 17 age group as it gears to roll out inoculation for minors.
In a previous interview, Iloilo City Covid-19 focal person Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna said that they have already identified sites for the conduct of the vaccination for the said age group.
As the vaccination coverage in the city continues to increase, the local government has also offered to help other municipalities in Iloilo and Guimaras ramp up their inoculation campaign.
“We need to help other LGUs protect their seniors and those with comorbidities so that they will not die in case they get COVID-19,” said Mayor Jerry P. Treñas in a statement.
The city government kicked off the vaccination campaign last week with members of the Metro Iloilo Guimaras Economic Development Council (MIGEDC) consisting of Leganes, Oton, Pavia, San Miguel, Sta. Barbara, and Cabatuan and the province of Guimaras with 2,000 doses each.
While not part of the MIGEDC, the municipality of Concepcion in northern Iloilo was also able to initially avail of 500 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines.
Concepcion Mayor Raul Banias said that he was thankful to Treñas as three months ago he had been consulting with him on how their local government unit can also procure vaccines.
“We can only be safe from COVID-19 if everybody is vaccinated. If the city has a high vaccination rate but the municipalities’ vaccination percentage is low, we can’t be safe at all. Inversely, many of our Index Cases were traced to get their infections from health facilities in the city (clinic, dialysis centers, labs, hospitals). As public officials, we have responsibilities to protect our people,” he said in a statement on Friday. (PNA)-rir
