DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 1 June) – The City Government of Davao hopes to complete the vaccination of at least 1.2 million of its residents against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) by November this year, Mayor Sara Duterte said.
Vaccination at the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City. MindaNews file photo by MANMAN DEJETO
During her program over Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR 87.5), Duterte said local authorities want the needed 70% of the population inoculated with anti-COVID-19 vaccines to achieve “herd immunity” before the year ends.
But Duterte also acknowledged the constraints on the supply of vaccines in the country.
“As of now, there is scarcity in the supply of vaccines all over the world. We still depend on the vaccines from the national government. We have already informed them (national government) that we intend to finish hopefully by November,” she said.
Once given more supply of vaccines, Duterte said that the local government targets to inoculate 10,000 individuals daily.
She said the city government has 13,000 regular and contractual workers while the Department of Education (DepEd)-Davao has around 12,000.
She said the vaccination would be voluntary but added that she would try to convince the government workers to have themselves inoculated “until the last day of the vaccination.”
The local government started the inoculation of individuals belonging to the A3 priority list last Monday. These include those aged 18 to 59 years with illnesses or comorbidities such as chronic respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, cerebrovascular disease, hypertension, malignancy, diabetes, obesity, chronic liver disease, neurologic disease, and immunodeficiency disease.
She revealed that health authorities met with various groups, including managements of business process outsourcing (BPO) and banking association, to discuss the eventual rollout of vaccination program in their respective offices.
The mayor said they talked to BPOs and told them to create their own vaccination centers managed by their in-house medical teams, and the city government will provide the vaccines.
She added that this will help the local government to achieve its target of inoculating 10,000 individuals daily.
As of May 31, Department of Health-Davao reported 248 new cases, bringing the total cases to 28,056, with 3,140 active, 23,807 recoveries, and 1,109 deaths in the region.
Out of the total, Davao City, which reported the highest COVID-19 cases in Mindanao, tallied 17,000 cases, with 1,665 active, 14,580 recoveries, and 755 deaths. Davao de Oro reported 1,968 cases, Davao del Norte with 5,242, Davao del Sur with 1,865, Davao Occidental with 302, and Davao Oriental with 1,679. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
