FOLLOW HEALTH RULES: Traffic in uptown Cebu City on Monday is moderate as the city tries to normalize activities as it heads for the more relaxed general community quarantine from Sept. 8 to Sept. 30. Health officials remind Cebuanos to follow health protocols to stop the spread of COVID-19 and achieve herd immunity by next month. —DALE G. ISRAEL
CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — Metro Cebu may achieve herd immunity against COVID-19 by the end of October this year, or a month ahead of the earlier target.
According to Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, chief pathologist of the Department of Health (DOH) in Central Visayas, the highly populated Metro Cebu already has a “high vaccination coverage ratio,” which means a huge number of eligible people have already been inoculated.
“If the vaccination program continues and more people present themselves for vaccination, then we might be able to finish this in October. It is an amazing journey for all of us,” she said in a virtual briefing on Friday.
Herd immunity happens when a large part of the population in an area is immune to a specific disease.
To achieve it, Loreche said 70 percent of the eligible population must be vaccinated.
As of Sept. 2, at least 44.06 percent of the eligible population in Metro Cebu have received the first dose while 27.67 percent were fully vaccinated, Loreche said.
Metro Cebu has a total eligible population of 1,735,474 spread in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Talisay and Naga, and the towns of Consolacion and Minglanilla.
Based on data from the Cebu-based Vaccination Operations Center (VOC), Metro Cebu targets at least 120,000 vaccinations per week.
For the entire Cebu Island, 1.47 million doses have been administered, with 585,150 of the population having completed their second dose, said Loreche, also the spokesperson of VOC.
Mortality among unvaccinated
Cebu Island, composed of Cebu province and the cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue, has a population of 5.1 million based on the 2020 census.
Aside from those implemented by the local governments, the vaccination program in Cebu is also simultaneously done by the private sector-led Project Balik Buhay, or PBB. The volunteer private group was already able to inoculate 83,613 individuals on the entire island.
VOC data also showed that 83 percent of the 426 hospital-based COVID-19 deaths from Aug. 1 to Aug. 31 involved unvaccinated individuals. At least 12 percent, or 52 deaths were vaccinated, while 5 percent, or 21 deaths, were partially vaccinated. The data did not include those who died in their homes and in facilities outside of hospitals.
Loreche appealed to unvaccinated individuals to have themselves inoculated, saying they could be a hindrance to achieving herd immunity.
Respect rights
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Central Visayas, however, reminded local governments to respect the rights of people amid efforts to return to normal and open up the economy.
Lawyer Arvin Odron, CHR regional director, hoped that local governments would take into consideration the rights of people in drafting orders that grant incentives to fully vaccinated individuals.
The Cebu City government recently decided to give exclusive perks to fully vaccinated individuals.
Acting Mayor Michael Rama, in a Sept. 2 executive order, said only fully vaccinated individuals would get the privilege of indoor dine-in in restaurants and personal-care services. Unvaccinated customers may be served by restaurants in an outdoor setting.
Lawyer Jacqueline Ann de Guia, CHR spokesperson, said the commission understood the city government’s aims to increase the mobility of fully vaccinated individuals. But “even if we treat greater mobility as an incentive to get vaccinated, the challenge on vaccine supply in the country remains. In this case, the best way to protect the unvaccinated is to increase vaccine supply,” she said.