Over 21,000 more Zambales residents get vaccine vs COVID-19

Wearing their traditional clothing, a member of an Aeta community at Barangay Buhawen in San Marcelino town, Zambales province receives his first dose of COVID-19. (Photo by Joanna Rose Aglibot)

SAN MARCELINO, Zambales—At least 21,455 more residents in this province were inoculated against COVID-19 as healthcare workers visited far-flung areas during the nationwide vaccination drive, an official said on Tuesday, Nov. 30.

Dr. Noel Bueno, provincial health director, said most of vaccine recipients were from geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas, including Aeta communities.

Bueno, who personally vaccinated 493 members of an Aeta community in Barangay Buhawen in this town on Monday, said he was hoping that the province would soon achieve herd immunity against the viral disease.

“Inaasahan natin na mas madami pa tayong mabakunahan lalo na at pupunta pa tayo sa mas madami pang remote areas sa mga susunod na araw,” Bueno told the Inquirer in an interview.

(We are expecting that we will inoculate more people now that we are going to the remote areas in the coming days.)

Healthcare workers will also bring the vaccines to the remote Magalawa Island in Palauig town on Wednesday, the last day of the national vaccine campaign

As of Monday, the province has already vaccinated 218,529 residents and at least 133,591 of them are fully vaccinated.

The province needs to vaccinate 70 percent of its 649,615-population to achieve herd immunity.

JPV