The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) commended higher education institutions (HEIs) that continue to coordinate with their local government units (LGUs) to ensure that their education personnel are vaccinated against coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“Ang isang magandang balita na aming nalaman doon sa aming pag-monitor sa ground level ay marami sa ating mga universities ang mataas ang vaccination rate (The good news that we found out from our ground level monitoring is that many of our universities have high vaccination rates),” said CHED Chairman Popoy De Vera in a virtual press briefing on Oct. 11.
Citing a report as of Oct. 6, De Vera said that “as far as higher education personnel is concerned, 73 percent of higher education personnel” are already vaccinated against COVID-19.
The said report, De Vera explained, came from 1,488 universities and colleges in the country.
Given this, he noted: “So, malapit na tayo doon sa percentage na kailangan para maging ligtas talaga sila (We are close to the percentage needed for them to be really safe),” he added.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2021/10/11/ched-eyes-limited-in-person-classes-in-areas-with-low-covid-19-cases-high-vaccination-rates/
In January this year, President Duterte allowed the conduct of limited face-to-face classes for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that offer Medicine and Allied Health Sciences programs.
De Vera said that the first batch of students and faculty who were allowed to attend face-to-face classes were considered by the Department of Health (DOH) as “frontline workers” belonging to the A1 classification.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2021/10/11/21000-students-in-181-universities-colleges-attend-limited-face-to-face-classes-ched/
In April, De Vera said that the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) also allowed education frontliners to be elevated in the vaccination priority list or from B1 to A4.
“So, iyong mga pamantasan na maganda ang kanilang pakikipag-ugnayan sa kanilang local governments ay mataas ang kanilang vaccination rate (So, those universities that have good coordination with their local governments have high vaccination rates),” De Vera said.
He cited Mariano Marcos State University in Ilocos Norte for instance. The school offers medical and allied health programs and has a strong connection to a hospital.
Currently, De Vera said 91 percent of its faculty and 97 percent of its students who attend limited face-to-face classes are already vaccinated. “Kaya’t mayroon tayong naidagdag na another layer of protection para sa ating mga estudyante (So we have added another layer of protection for our students),” he explained.
De Vera noted that as more COVID-19 vaccines come in, CHED will strictly monitor the vaccination status of higher education institutions nationwide.