Eastern Samar Gov. Evardone wants increased allocation of COVID-19 vaccine

Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

TACLOBAN CITY—Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone has appealed to the national government to increase its allocation of the COVID-19 vaccines.

With a more supply of vaccines, Evardone said the province could inoculate more and use all its vaccination centers.

The governor, however, did not say how many vaccines the province would need for them to ramp up their vaccination campaign.

As of July 2, Eastern Samar was given 52,356 vaccines by the Department of Health (DOH).

So far, 44,898 individuals have been vaccinated.

“If granted this request, we are positive that the number of vaccinate individuals will increase and the operation of our vaccination centers will be maximized,” Evardone said in his letter addressed to Secretary Carlito Galvez, chief implementer of the National Task Force against COVID-19.

The province currently has 2,380 total COVID-19 cases where 445 were active, with 64 deaths.

Since the rollout of the vaccines in the region last March, the region has received 404,140 vaccines.

Meanwhile, the DOH reported four new deaths due to COVID-19.

Two of them were from Naval town, Biliran involving a 71-year-old man who died on June 29 and a 74-year-old man who succumbed to the disease on June 30.

The other fatalities involved a 62-year-old man from Matag-ob, Leyte, who died on June 30, and a 62-year-old man from Borongan City, Eastern Samar, who succumbed on July 3.

The total COVID-19 fatalities in the region have now reached 398.

abc