A total of 1,934,807 Covid-19 vaccine doses were administered to the unvaccinated and those with incomplete vaccine doses through the house-to-house vaccination process, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Eduardo Año said Monday night, May 23.
In a briefing with the President, Año reported that 811 cities and municipalities conducted the house-to-house vaccination with 784,548 given the initial dose, 792,498 injected with the second dose, 350,237 administered with the first booster shot and 7,524 getting the second booster dose as of May 22.
He cited the top three regions namely Region 13 for having vaccinated 477,657 individuals, Region 3 for administering the dose to 421,138 persons and Region 11 for injecting 246,249 doses under the house-to-house vaccination scheme.
Earlier, Año directed all local government units (LGUs) to scour their areas and convince the unvaccinated and those eligible to get Covid-19 booster shots to be inoculated against the virus.
DILG Secretary Eduardo Año issued the directive as the Omicron BA.4 subvariant has now entered the country putting the public’s health at great risk.
He noted that the Omicron BA.4 subvariant poses a threat to public health as it can evade immune protection from vaccination and prior infection.
With this looming danger, Año said that the LGUs must maximize its resources in urging the unvaxxed and booster-eligible population to get vaccinated “as a precautionary measure versus a more transmissible Omicron variant and possible community transmission.”
“We direct all LGUs to be proactive in its vaccination efforts and seek these people who are eligible for inoculation. The Department of Health’s (DOH) detection of BA.4 signals the need for a more aggressive action to ensure that the people are vaccinated and protected against this highly contagious variant of COVID-19,” Año said.
With regards to the recorded community health protocol offenses, Año noted a total of 40,335 violators in the not wearing face mask regulation from May 11 to 22 which is up by 26.76 percent from the previous number.
Out of the not wearing face mask infraction numbers, 31,032 individuals were warned, 6,745 persons were fined or cited, 2,519 violators underwent community service, seven were arrested and subjected to inquest proceedings, 32 cases under regular filing were made.
A total of 2,180 violators in the physical distancing regulations was recorded which is an increase of 3.90 percent.
Under this category, 2,115 were warned, 45 were subjected to community service and 20 arrested and were inquested.
There was only one violation recorded under the mass gathering regulation.
In the government’s drug war campaign, Año said that anti-narcotics authorities arrested 1,796 drug personalities with no reported fatalities in 1,556 operations where P295,969,774.80 worth of illegal drugs were confiscated from May 11 to 22.
In these operations, 40.92 kilograms of marijuana and 96.26 kilograms of shabu were confiscated. (Chito A. Chavez)