Gov’t to focus on 5 regions in 2nd 3-day COVID-19 vax drive

Residents receive shots against COVID-19 in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur during the three-day national vaccination drive. |Photo courtesy of Vigan City government

MANILA, Philippines — The government will concentrate the second COVID-19 vaccination drive to five regions with low vaccination rate status, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said on Saturday.

She said that these areas are regions 3 (Central Luzon), 4A (Calabarzon – Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), 6 (Western Visayas), 7 (Central Visayas), and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

“[M]ayroon pa rin ho tayong mga binabantayan na mga rehiyon kung saan medyo mababa pa rin ho ang ating coverage and this includes Region 4A, Region 3, Region 7. Ito pong tatlong regions na ‘to, kaya naman din po talagang mababa pa rin ang coverage dahil napakalaking rehiyon po nito at malaki ang population,” Vergeire explained during the Laging Handa briefing.

(We are monitoring some regions where there is a low vaccination coverage and this includes Region 4A, Region 3, Region 7. These three regions have a low vaccination rate because their areas are big and they have a huge population.)

“Mayroon din ho tayo sa BARMM at saka Region 6 na medyo mababa pa rin ang vaccination,” she added.

(We also have BARMM and Region 6 which also have a low vaccination rate.)

With this, the health official said that volunteers would be deployed in the said areas on December 15 to 17, the second national vaccination program.

“So, this coming December 15 to 17, ito po ‘yung mga areas na talagang we are focusing on at pupuntahan talaga ng ating volunteers, mga partners ng private sector, and non-government organization para matulungan po natin sila na maitaas ‘yung antas ng pagbabakuna among those unvaccinated in their regions,” said Vergeire.

(So, this coming December 15 to 17, these are the areas that we are focusing on where our volunteers, partners in the private sector and non-government organizations will go to help them increase their vaccination status.)

Meanwhile, Vergeire noted that the first national vaccination drive helped all regions to increase their vaccine coverage.

“Actually, nung last vaccination days natin, ‘yung November 29 to December 1, nakita natin na talagang naipataas talaga ng lahat ng ating regions ang kanilang vaccine coverage and we hope to have this kind of coverage again kapag dating nitong December 15 to 17,” she said.

(Actually, our last vaccination days, from November 29 to December 1, we saw that all regions increased their vaccine coverage and we hope to have this kind of coverage again this coming December 15 to 17.)

As of December 8, a total of 39,560,598 individuals are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the country.

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