The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) cited “significant increases” in the vaccination rate of faculty and employees in higher education institutions (HEIs) and students in the tertiary level.
CHED Chairman Popoy De Vera, in a statement issued Monday, Nov. 29, said that based on weekly reports from HEIs nationwide, some 82 percent of faculty and HEI employees have received at least one jab.
“This is a significant increase from the 72 percent vaccination rate at the end of October 2021 when the supply of vaccines increased dramatically,” De Vera said.
De Vera said that the CHED Regional Offices are “taking the lead” in the data collection on the number of vaccinated HEI personnel (teaching and non-teaching) based on the submissions of HEIs in their region.
Data as of Nov. 25 showed that all regions are “70 percent and above in the reported vaccination percentage for HEI personnel.”
CHED said that Regions III, VIII, II, and CAR reported a close to 90 percent vaccinated HEI personnel.
Meanwhile, De Vera noted that the vaccination rate for students has also significantly increased from less than 30 percent to now 46 percent with the “aggressive school-based vaccination drive spearheaded by CHED in cooperation with the Department of Health (DOH), the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, local government units (LGUs), and partner HEIs.
Based on the reports of 2,013 HEIs in the country as of Nov. 25, CHED 1,839,846 tertiary students are now vaccinated against COVID-19.
CHED added that Regions 9 (70.1 percent), CAR (57.5 percent), and National Capital Region (54.2 percent) are the top three regions with the highest reported percentage of vaccinated tertiary students.
De Vera said that since he and Vaccine Czar Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. launched the “Padyak Para sa Flexible Learning: Sama-samang Vaccination Program” at the Mabalacat City College (MCC) and Our Lady of Fatima University (OLFU) last Oct. 13, 2021, “we have seen a consistent increase in the number of HEIs that have launched vaccination for their faculty, staff, and students either in their own facilities, or by working closely with their LGUs to hold vaccination days only for students.”
To urge students to get vaccinated so they can slowly open their face-to-face classes, De Vera said that he crisscrossed the country --- going from Quezon City University, Tarlac State University, Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University in La Union, Pamantasan ng Cabuyao in Laguna, Palawan State University in Puerto Princesa, all the way to Davao Oriental State University, Notre Dame of Dadiangas University and DMC College Foundation, Inc. in Dipolog City.