CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The Department of Health Region 10 admitted it failed to meet a certain target to vaccinate people against Covid-19 within the 100-day period set by President Marcos Jr.
Dr. Ellenietta Gamolo, the DOH-10 assistant director, said in a phone interview on Thursday, Oct. 13, that the region (Northern Mindanao) has only achieved 74.27 percent vaccination coverage for senior citizens and 24.31 percent coverage for the first booster vaccination for the general population as of October 12.
The 100-day Presidential directive actually ended on Saturday, Oct. 8.
Under the presidential directives, the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) has been tasked to ensure all units of DOH, including the local government units (LGUs) and other stakeholders to reach the 90 percent coverage for the primary series among all A2 (Senior Citizen) category and 50 percent coverage for the first booster dose vaccination for the general population within the first 100 days of the Marcos Jr. administration.
Out of the five provinces and two highly urbanized cities in the region, only the province of Camiguin and Iligan City achieved the 90 percent target for the senior citizens, with 91.61 percent and 90.59 percent coverage respectively.
For the 50 percent coverage for the first booster dose vaccination, only Camiguin province was able to hit the target with 50.47 percent coverage.
However, Gamolo said that DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire has lowered down the target for the first booster dose vaccination to 30 percent on October 8, as many LGUs are unable to achieve the original target due to some intervening factors.
“All LGUs are doing their best to achieve the target because of the instructions, once they reach that, there might be a little changes to our health protocols as there are a lot of people who are already vaccinated,” Gamolo said in vernacular.
With this, three other LGUs have reached 30 percent coverage. These were the province of Misamis Occidental with 39.66 percent, Cagayan de Oro City with 36.86 percent and Iligan City with 31.41 percent.
The 50 percent coverage target for the first booster dose vaccination, as well as the 90 percent coverage target for senior citizens have been extended until the month of December this year.
Apart from the possible changes in health protocols, Gamolo said regions that achieved the target will also be given incentives. However, the NVOC did not specify up to this date whether it’s monetary or in kind.
Meanwhile, for the Northern Mindanao region, the DOH-10 already informed the LGUs that they will provide monetary incentives for those LGUs that achieved the target as tokens for the health workers who exerted their effort during vaccination.
Gamolo urged all local chief executives in the region to continue their effort in COVID-19 response, as well as in the vaccination to achieve the target and protect the people against the ongoing threat of the virus.