National vaccination drive focuses on 6 regions with low vaccination rate

ROLLOUT The Iloilo City government has been ramping up its vaccination drive to cover the remaining 20 percent of its target population. —PHOTO COURTESY OF ILOILO CITY MAYOR’S OFFICE

MANILA, Philippines — The government’s three-day national COVID-19 vaccination drive, set on November 29 to December 1, will focus on six regions with low inoculation rate, the National Task Force Against COVID-19 said on Monday.

NTF Chief Implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. identified these regions as Regions 3 (Central Luzon), 4A (Calabarzon), the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), 5 (Bicol), 12 (Soccsksargen), and 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula).

“Our concentration would be the regions Region 4A, Region 3 and also those regions with low vaccination output, like BARMM, Region 5, Region 12, and Region 9,” Galvez told CNN Philippines’ The Source.

About three million COVID-19 vaccines are set to be administered to these regions during the vaccination campaign, dubbed the “Bayanihan, Bakunahan.”

Earlier, government lowered its target output for the program to nine million vaccine doses from the initial 15 million due to shortage in ancillary supplies and other logistical challenges.

“Ang inuuna po natin talaga ang pinakamalaki na talagang unvaccinated dito sa Region 4A at saka sa Region 3, five million more or less,” Galvez said.

(We are prioritizing those with low vaccination rate, Region 4A and Region 3, five million more or less.)

“So, ang target namin sa (our target for) Region 4A at saka (and) Region 3 is three million for the whole three-day vaccination,” he added.

Aside from these regions, Galvez noted that there is also low vaccination output in Cebu and Davao Region.

“Ang another target namin is sa Bicol at saka itong area ng BARMM, and also Region 12, at saka ‘yung other regions’—‘yung Cebu at saka ‘yung Davao Region at ang Region 12 dahil kasi talagang nakikita natin na medyo mababa pa ‘yung kanilang tinatawag natin na first dosing at saka ‘yung second dosing,” he said.

(Our other target is Bicol, BARMM, Region 12 and also other regions—Cebu and Davao Region, and Region 12 because we observed that their first and second dosing are low.)

According to Galvez, the National Capital Region (NCR) is not much of a priority in the national vaccination drive due to the high vaccination rate. Hence, vaccinators in Metro Manila were deployed in other regions.

“Actually, ang NCR halos hindi na kasama dito sa ating national vaccination program. Ang ginawa namin ‘yung vaccinators ng NCR ay inano natin sa north and south, sa Region 3 at saka Region 4,” the vaccine czar said.

(Actually, NCR is almost not included in the national vaccination program. What we did is we deployed the vaccinations in NCR to the north and south, in Region 3 and 4A.)

The government has set another national vaccination program on December 15 to 17 to reach the goal of immunizing 54 million individuals by year end.

Based on the Department of Health’s COVID-19 vaccination dashboard, 35,557,409 individuals are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 while 45,286,049 people have received their first dose as of November 27.

Meanwhile, administration of booster shots reached 174,536.

EDV