A health worker prepares a dose of the BioNtech Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination drive in Manila. /AFP File Photo
BACOLOD CITY—The eight-day provincewide simultaneous mass vaccination drive against COVID-19 started Thursday and Friday in Negros Occidental.
Dr. Ernell Tumimbang, provincial health officer, said on Wednesday that the mass vaccination days would be conducted Thursdays and Fridays in the first three weeks of June, and on Monday and Tuesday in the fourth week.
Senior citizens who complete their two doses of vaccines will be given five kilos of rice by the provincial government and additional membership in the Negros Occidental Comprehensive Health Program.
Tumimbang said they have asked the local governments for the lists of their senior citizens to be vaccinated.
Only 58.97 percent of Negros Occidental’s target senior citizens have been fully vaccinated as of May 28.
Monitoring teams will also be fielded in the towns and cities of Negros Occidental so that recommendations could be made on how to improve their vaccination drives, Tumimbang said.
Negros Occidental has fully vaccinated 63.61 percent of its target population.
The provincial vaccination days are held to protect more residents against COVID-19 and so additional local governments in the province can be de-escalated to Alert Level 1.
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson issued Executive Order No. 22-25, Series of 2022, on Tuesday placing the cities of Sagay, Victorias, and La Carlota and the municipalities of E. B. Magalona, Pulupandan, San Enrique, and Candoni under Alert Level 1, and extending the Alert Level 2 status for the rest of the province until June 15.
Lacson also ordered the lifting of curfew in Negros Occidental effective June 1.