LUCENA CITY—At least 134,243 residents in Quezon province have been administered vaccines against COVID-19.
The Monday report of the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) said that 41,344 residents had received their second dose of the vaccine as of Friday.
The IPHO report also said 92,899 residents had been injected the first dose.
All municipalities in Quezon have been conducting vaccination rollouts to help prevent the spread of SARS-Cov2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The vaccines were provided by the Department of Health.
Quezon would need to inoculate at least 70 percent or 1,485,981) of its 2,122,830 population as of the 2015 census to achieve herd immunity.
The Quezon provincial government has tapped people’s organizations to address the widespread public skepticism on the COVID-19 vaccination program.
The common fear involves the vaccine’s side effects and even deaths circulating on social media.
Gov. Danilo Suarez said the deployment of “community mobilizers” aims to raise the citizens’ trust and confidence in the vaccination process and give them hope that the pandemic would end after the immunization.
As of July 19, Quezon, which remains under general community quarantine, has recorded 16,198 COVID-19 cases, 14,719 recoveries, 725 fatalities since the WHO declared the pandemic in March last year, the IPHO 10 a.m. report said.
The province still has 754 active cases.