Ilocos Region eyes 600,000 minors for COVID jabs

FIRST DOSE These two minors are among the first to receive their first of two doses of COVID-19 jabs during the pediatric vaccine rollout on Oct. 29 in La Union province. —PHOTO COURTESY OF LA UNION PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

LAOAG CITY—The Department of Health (DOH) in the Ilocos Region is targeting 603,673 children and teens aged 12 to 17 years old for vaccination in its four provinces to help achieve herd immunity in the region at the soonest possible time.

According to the DOH regional chart of eligible pediatric population, Pangasinan would need to inoculate 374,861 minors; La Union, 89,657; Ilocos Norte, 76,073; and Ilocos Sur, 63,082.

The DOH said 60,367 of these youths suffer other prevailing medical conditions.

All local governments in the region have been given the go signal to inoculate minors with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, said Dr. Rheuel Bobis, the COVID-19 focal person of the DOH in Ilocos, during a Nov. 5 briefing.

Supply adequate

The Ilocos Region participated in the simultaneous Oct. 29 vaccine rollout for children with comorbidities. To date, 1,700 children have received their first jabs, he said.Bobis said the DOH was not encouraging “walk-in” vaccination for the meantime, but assured residents that vaccine supplies were adequate. An additional 464,240 doses were received by the regional vaccination facility on Nov. 4.

Over 2.5 million COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in Ilocos, and 29.17 percent of the 3.7 million target population have been fully inoculated against the disease, he said.In Aurora province, some 49,524 individuals or about 30.8 percent of the 160,889 target residents have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the provincial government announced on Friday.

Its COVID-19 Vaccination Operations Center said 71,756 residents in the province (44.6 percent) had been injected with their first doses.

The capital town of Aurora has the highest number of fully vaccinated individuals at 41.9 percent while San Luis town has the least number of fully vaccinated residents at 20.2 percent.

Since the pandemic began last year, Aurora has recorded a total of 3,592 cases of which 3,289 have recovered while 83 died. —REPORTS FROM JOHN MICHAEL MUGAS AND JUN M. MALIG