The Department of Health (DOH) regional office in Bicol on Thursday requested the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to help local government units (LGUs) in collating their coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccination reports to prevent delay in uploading and consolidating their inoculation data.
Dr. Jannnish Alcala-Arellano, DOH-Bicol Local Health Support Division officer-in-charge, said in a news briefing LGUs are either late in reporting or slow in their vaccination program, resulting in unmet targets.
Arellano said the reports are being done by health workers who are having difficulties in “multi-tasking”.
“Currently, health workers are doing dual functions such as attending to Covid-19 patients and performing reporting jobs,” she said.
She said the LGUs’ late submission of data affects the agency’s overall reporting system due to difficulties in consolidating reports.
“The snail pace in the Covid-19 vaccination program coverage placing the region second on the bottom of other regions may be attributed to reporting and operational issues in various local government units in Bicol,” Arellano said.
Another issue that needs to be addressed is the hesitance and refusal of villagers to be inoculated because of religious beliefs, while others are waiting for their vaccine brand of choice.
DOH vaccine statistics indicate that as of November 8, a total of 945,784 individuals have been fully vaccinated in Bicol, indicating a mere 22-percent coverage.
Meanwhile, Legazpi Mayor Noel Rosal, in an interview, said 78 percent of the city’s 209,000 target population has received either their first dose or fully vaccinated against Covid-19. He is optimistic of reaching population protection by December this year.
“We have now 173,000 meaning we are now almost 78 percent of the total inoculations, for our fully vaccinated, we only have 70,000 so this is about 38 percent of the herd immunity which is 140,000,” he said.
Rosal also said the Legazpi City Inter-Agency Task Force continues to monitor barangays with low vaccination reports.
“Vaccines are not the problem anymore, the hesitation of individuals to be vaccinated is the problem. The only way to encourage individuals to get vaccines is to make guidelines or executive order that those who are not vaccinated will be less privileged. I think this will be a way to encourage them, but we cannot impose it,” he said.
As of Thursday, Legazpi City has also inoculated 1,400 young individuals aged 12-17 years old.
Rosal also noted that they would soon open the city to vaccinated tourists.
“I am encouraging those individuals that are still hesitant to get inoculated, please come. I received my Sinovac vaccine six months ago. Any vaccine is better than none, it is very important to get vaccinated for the protection of yourself and your family,” the mayor said.
Based on DOH-Bicol’s Covid-19 records, the region has had 45,864 cumulative Covid-19 cases since March last year with 36,801 recoveries, 7,498 active cases, and 1,565 reported deaths.
Source: Philippines News Agency
