Heavy rains won’t stop Ilocos region vaccination drive

Lola Hilaria Flores Dalere received her COVID-19 vaccine in Vintar, Ilocos Norte. She is the oldest vaccine recipient in the province. (Photo courtesy of Ilocos Norte provincial government)

LAOAG CITY — Several vaccination sites in the Ilocos region are prepared with their “contingency plans” if heavy rain would persist, affecting the vaccination drive against coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a health official said on Saturday.

According to Dr. Rheuel Bobis, COVID-19 focal person of the Department of Health (DOH) in the Ilocos region, even the delivery of the vaccines to the vaccination sites in the region will also be unhampered.

The DOH said personnel at the vaccination sites are equipped with knowledge on how to deal with the effects of disasters, such as flooding, power outages, and strong rains, which would ensure that the vaccines will not be spoiled.

If heavy rains continue, vaccination sites with no backup power would need to transfer to larger vaccination sites within the area or ask for help from the regional COVID-19 vaccination center.

On Friday, the Ilocos region received an additional 73,600 doses of the CoronaVac vaccine made by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac to continue inoculating the A1, A2, A3, and A4 priority groups.

However, Bobis reminded that only those areas which were determined by the DOH to be “high-risk” of COVID-19 infections could inoculate individuals belonging to the A4 group.

So far, at least 461,093 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were already administered in the region.

Around 317,815 have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines among the top four priority groups while 143,278 have been fully vaccinated after they received two doses of the vaccines.

Due to the threat of the Delta variant of COVID-19, Bobis reiterated that it is important to increase the vaccine coverage in the region among senior citizens and persons with ailments.

Even amid the inclement weather across the country recently, Bobis asked those who have already received their first dose of vaccines to show up during their scheduled inoculation of the second dose to get “complete immunity” against the virus.

/MUF