Gov’t plans special vaccination days in areas with low immunization coverage

MANILA, Philippines — The government is planning to hold special vaccination days before the end of March in areas with low immunization coverage.

National Vaccination Operations Center Co-lead Dr. Kezia Lorraine Rosario explained that the special vaccination days will be a targeted approach compared to the national vaccination days which are done across the whole country.

“Ang nakita namin is pwede tayong mag-launch ng (What we saw is we can launch) special vaccination days in certain areas,” she said in a Laging Handa public briefing.

“Ang pinagpaplanuhan ng team namin with Undersecretary Myrna [Cabotaje] is most likely before the end of the month may special vaccination days gagawin sa Cebu province kasi ang Cebu province ‘yung pinakamataas na with unvaccinated,” she added.

(Our team, with Undersecretary Myrna, is planning to conduct special vaccination days, most likely before the end of the month, in Cebu province because it has the highest number of unvaccinated people.)

Aside from Cebu, the government is looking to roll out special vaccination days in parts of Mindanao.

“We are also looking at the areas in Mindanao, specifically Lanao del Sur, the [Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao] areas… and also certain provinces in Region 12,” said Rosario.

READ: Gov’t plans to conduct ‘Bayanihan, Bakunahan’ every month

To date, the country has conducted four national vaccination days since November last year.

The government is aiming to fully vaccinate 70 million individuals by the end of March.

READ: Duque: Gov’t eyes 77 million fully vaxxed vs COVID-19 by Q1 2022

As of March 9, around 63.9 million individuals in the country are fully inoculated against COVID-19.

READ: 63 million individuals in PH now fully vaccinated

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