Vax drive in 11 regions postponed due to storm

MANILA, Philippines — The government has moved to Dec. 20-22 the second round of the national vaccination drive in some regions due to Tropical Storm “Odette” (international name: Rai), which is expected to bring strong winds and intense rain, particularly in Visayas and Mindanao.

Covered by the new schedule are Bicol, Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao Region, Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos), Caraga and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

This would allow national government agencies and local government units (LGUs) to prepare instead for the storm, according to Secretary Vince Dizon, deputy implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF).

In an advisory, the Department of Health (DOH) announced that only six regions would hold the three-day Bayanihan, Bakunahan National COVID-19 Vaccination Days Part II starting today.

These are the Cordillera Administrative Region, the National Capital Region, Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and Calabarzon.

Dizon said at the Laging Handa briefing on Tuesday that the government was aiming to inoculate 7 million Filipinos during the second round of the national vaccination campaign, many for their second doses.

He said the goal for this month was to hit the target of fully vaccinating 54 million Filipinos and the government wanted all areas in the country to vaccinate at least half of their population by the end of this year.

The government was able to inoculate 9.9 million Filipinos with COVID-19 vaccines during the first round of the campaign on Nov. 29 to Dec. 1, which was extended for several more days in some areas.

Volunteers needed

Dizon said the government would prioritize the vaccination of residents in areas where less than half of the population has been inoculated against COVID-19.

These include Nueva Ecija and Zambales in Central Luzon and Quezon in the Calabarzon region, which NTF officials would visit today, he said.

Employees who are scheduled to be vaccinated during the national campaign should not be marked absent or their benefits reduced, he said.

Dizon said the doses needed for the national vaccination campaign have already been deployed to the different LGUs.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also called for volunteers to help the national vaccination drive.

She appealed to members of the private sector and nongovernment organizations to boost the campaign.

“We hope we could again show the spirit of bayanihan with this coming second phase of our national vaccination days so that we could reach our target of 7 million and we can vaccinate those who are still unvaccinated in our population,” she said.

Thursday landfall

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council warned on Tuesday people in Visayas and Mindanao to brace for Odette as it gains strength as it approaches the country. (See related story in Regions, Page A10.)

The weather disturbance swirled into the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) on Tuesday night and is expected to make landfall by Thursday, with a possibility to intensify into a typhoon before hitting land, according to the state weather bureau.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) also warned of a storm surge in areas in its path.

As of the 4 p.m. update from Pagasa, Odette was located 1,000 kilometers east of Mindanao, or still outside PAR, packing maximum sustained winds at 100 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center.

Its gustiness was estimated at 125 kph and was moving west northwest at 25 kph, according to Pagasa senior weather specialist Christopher Perez.

By Wednesday afternoon, Perez said Odette was expected to be 655 km east of Surigao City and by Thursday, it might be 145 km east of the same area. The center of the storm will remain offshore on Wednesday, with most of its packed rainfall confined within the periphery of the storm, only bringing minimal rains to some parts of the country.

Eastern Visayas and Caraga will experience a “significant amount of rains” on Thursday morning as Perez said that more rainfall could be expected once it makes its landfall in either of the two regions.

He also reported that the storm, by Friday, was estimated to be beyond the landmass of Visayas islands and would by then be over the coastal waters of Cuyo, Palawan. On Saturday, the storm is estimated to be 300 km east of the Kalayaan Group of Islands in Palawan. —With reports from Dexter Cabalza and Dempsey Reyes