Soccsksargen, or Region 12 (outlined in red), in Mindanao is composed of the provinces of South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Sarangani, and General Santos City. (Image from Google Maps)
KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato, Philippines — More than 84,000 individuals in Soccsksargen have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of July, according to data from the Department of Health (DOH).
Of the total of 263,350 people vaccinated, 84,341 already got their second dose, while the remaining 179,009 got their first dose.
So far, the vaccination program in the region has covered those belonging to the top three priority groups of the DOH — A1 (active frontline healthcare workers), A2 (senior citizens), and A3 (persons with co-morbidity) priority lists.
Among those who got the first dose, 62,832 belong to the A1 category, 63,523 to A2, and 52,654 to A3.
Among the fully vaccinated individuals, 49,067 belong to the A1 category, 27,369 to A2, and 7,915 to A3.
The vaccines sent by the national government to Soccsksargen are CoronaVac and AstraZeneca, according to Arjohn Gangoso, health education and promotion officer of the regional office of the DOH.
An individual is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the second in a two-dose vaccine, or at least two weeks after receiving a shot of a single-dose vaccine. This is the protocol set forth by the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
As of July 15, the confirmed COVID-19 cases in the region stood at 24,462, with 20,717 recoveries, 785 deaths, and 2,956 active cases, the regional DOH COVID-19 tracker showed.
In the region, South Cotabato has the most active COVID-19 cases at 1,161, followed by Cotabato with 577, General Santos City with 576, Sarangani with 496, and Sultan Kudarat with 146.