By Connie Calipay | Philippine News Agency
LEGAZPI CITY – The Department of Health’s regional office Bicol Region is targeting to inoculate some 1,152,960 Bicolanos during the three-day government vaccination campaign from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1.
In an interview on Sunday (Nov. 28), Noemi Bron, DOH-Bicol Health and Promotion chief, said the National Vaccination Days is in line with “Bayanihan Bakunahan”, a nationwide vaccination activity that aims to inoculate 9 million Filipinos against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“The three-day vaccination activity includes the vaccination of those who belong to the rest of the adult population or those aged 18 years old and above. Likewise, those who are 12 to 17 years old are also included. Booster doses will also be given to those belonging to the A1, A2, and A3 priority groups, or the healthcare workers, senior citizens, and persons with comorbid conditions,” she said.
DOH-Bicol also said in a statement that the activity mobilizes all government agencies and other stakeholders to ramp up the administration of vaccines against COVID-19.
“Volunteers with medical backgrounds will be assigned either as vaccinators or post-vaccination monitors. The other non-medical volunteers will be assigned in registration and encoding,” the statement added.
The agency also enjoined all vaccinated individuals to encourage others who have not been inoculated yet to take advantage of the three-day activity.
As of Nov. 22, around 25% of the population in the Bicol Region has been fully vaccinated. No less than 70% of the residents need to be vaccinated for a community to achieve population protection.
“With such coverage, the population will be protected from severe forms of Covid-19 and the transmission of the virus will be slowed down,” the statement read.
DOH-Bicol also reported that 1.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines are on standby for the National Vaccination Days while 1,700 medical volunteers will be deployed throughout the six provinces to perform registration, counseling, screening, vaccination, monitoring, and recording.
The daily vaccination target of the government per province is as follows: Albay – 82,620; Camarines Norte – 41,091; Camarines Sur – 126,773; Catanduanes – 14,828; Masbate – 65,422; and Sorsogon – 53,586.
Also, a total of 540 sites are initially set for the event which will be regionally launched in Ligao City, Albay.
Meanwhile, the DOH-Bicol urged the public to read only information released by the government on COVID-19 and its vaccination rollout. (PNA) – bny
