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Over 80K tertiary students in Ilocos Region vaccinated

Over 80,000 tertiary students in the Ilocos Region have been vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) as of November 22, according to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

In an interview on Wednesday, CHED Ilocos Region chief education program specialist, Dr. Danilo Bose, said the massive vaccination advocacy campaign started in September 2021.

Bose said based on the present data, the achieved rate is so far over 40 percent as against CHED Ilocos’ target at 70 percent vaccination rate of tertiary students by the end of December to attain population protection.

“Ang target ng CHED, ang mga schools na mataas ang vaccination rate ay pwede ng mag-start ng limited face-to-face by December. Yong iba na naghahanda can start sa second semester January or February 2022 (CHED targets that the schools with high vaccination rates can already start limited face-to-face by December this year. While others can start in the second semester of January or February next year),” he added.

When the limited face-to-face classes start, Bose said students who are not vaccinated yet or are hesitant to receive the Covid-19 jabs have the option of flexible learning.

“They can continue to avail of the online or offline classes,” he said.

Bose said CHED is doing an advocacy campaign to encourage students to be vaccinated for the restart of the face-to-face classes.

“(CHED) Chairman (Prospero) Popoy de Vera is constantly coordinating with vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. He was assured that there is no problem with supply. Whatever the need of the school is will be given through the local government unit (LGU). The advocacy campaign is coordinated with the Provincial Health Office, then to the LGU. The supply used for the students is in addition to the supply of the host LGU,” he added.

Meanwhile, Bose said over 90 percent of teaching and non-teaching personnel of tertiary schools in the region are vaccinated.

As part of the program, some 300 college students in San Carlos City were inoculated against Covid-19 in a mall-based vaccination here on Tuesday.

“Lubos naman ang suporta ng lokal na pamahalaan sa kampanyang ito ng CHED upang unahin ang kaligtasan ng mga estudyante sa nalalapit na muling pagbubukas ng face-to-face classes sa siyudad (The local government unit is in full support of this campaign of CHED to prioritize the safety of the students as the opening of face-to-face classes in the city is upcoming),” city information officer Jhuliano Resuello Nazareno said in a statement.

He said among the participating students were from Binalatongan Community College, San Carlos College, and many other higher education institutions in the city.

Nazareno said with the kick-off of the intensified inoculation for college students, the City Health Office is set to issue guidelines to universities to have systematic coordination between the city government and education institutions.

“This is in preparation for the limited face-to-face classes next year as stated in the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases Resolution No. 148-G that gives (a) go signal to higher education institutions under Alert Level 2 and Alert Level 3 to implement limited face-to-face classes,” he added.

Source: Philippines News Agency