LUCENA CITY––At least 953,007 residents in Quezon province have been administered vaccines against COVID-19, the Quezon Public Information Office (PIO) said on Monday.
Citing a report from the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO), the agency said 317,741 residents had received their second dose of the vaccine as of Oct. 24, and 635,266 residents had their first dose.
All Quezon municipalities have been conducting vaccination rollouts to help prevent the spread of SARS-Cov2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The province needs to inoculate at least 1,485,981 of its population of 2,122,830 (2015 census) to achieve herd immunity.
The Quezon provincial government has tapped people’s organizations to address the widespread public skepticism on the vaccine.
The common fear is the vaccine’s side effects and even deaths circulating on social media.
The deployment of “community mobilizers” aims to raise the citizens’ trust and confidence in the vaccine and give them hope that the pandemic will end after the immunization.
The number of active COVID-19 cases in Quezon continued to drop, the IPHO report showed.
As of Oct. 24, the IPHO reported that the province had 774 active virus carriers, a dramatic decline from 2,074 recorded on Oct. 1. The province’s highest tally was on Sept. 21, with 2,570 cases.
Lucena City, the Quezon capital, topped the list with 288 active virus carriers.
The COVID-19 death toll in Quezon province rose to 1,381, as only one patient was added to the list of fatalities on Sunday, according to IPHO.