DOH: Local execs’ ‘lukewarm support’ among issues in BARMM low vaxxing rate

(FILE) Bangsamoro Health Minister Dr. Amirel Usman gets vaccinated with Sinovac on March 5 at the Integrated Provincial Hospital Office in Maguindanao. PHOTO FROM BANGSAMORO INFORMATION OFFICE

MANILA, Philippines — The “lukewarm support” from local chief executives and barangay local government units (BLGUs) of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) is one of the challenges cited for the low COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the region, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday.

Aside from the supposed lack of support from local officials, the DOH, citing the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC), said the other challenges are vaccine hesitancy or preference, limited manpower, disinformation about vaccines, and late submission of daily vaccination reports.

“In response to these challenges, the government proposes to conduct ‘suyod’ activities (house-to-house vaccination), information caravan, dialogue with refusal clients, provision of ‘ayuda’ to be vaccinated; and radio plugging,” the DOH said in a statement.

“Additional staff for data management with team compensation is also planned. Random police checkpoints on vaccination cards and the creation of VaxCert booths are also proposed to mitigate proliferation of fake vaccination cards.

The DOH said the government is also planning to hire IT technicians and provide them with internet and load allowance to address the late submission of daily vaccination reports.

The BARMM remains the region with the lowest vaccination coverage at only 28.02 percent—or 854,963 out of 3,051,186 individuals—of its eligible population are fully vaccinated, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Monday.

NVOC chairperson and DOH Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje also acknowledged that sustaining the vaccination drive in the BARMM is a challenge. However, she said many people were vaccinated during the recent mass immunization drive because of the “festive mood,” and noted that cultural and religious beliefs might not be the reasons behind the low turnout after all.

The DOH said it will ask the support of BARMM local officials to increase the vaccination rate.

“As we value the partnership of the national government and the local government in this vaccination program, we will ask support from Municipal Mayor, Head of Offices and BLGU and to capacitate and require them to perform their functions in data management, to monitor and evaluate their roles and functional capacity in every bakuna center, and conduct Resbakuna to barangays with less conflict where security and safety is observed,” the health agency said.

Health authorities in the BARMM have also assured the Muslim community that COVID-19 vaccines are certified by the Philippine Halal Certification Board as “halal” or permissible to Islam.

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/MUF