Anti-COVID drive to vaccinate seniors in upland barangays of Negros Occidental eyed

FILE PHOTO: A health worker prepares a dose of the BioNTech Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Manila on July 15, 2021. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)

BACOLOD CITY — The Provincial Health Office (PHO) is pushing for a house-to-house COVID-19 campaign to vaccinate senior citizens in upland barangays of Negros Occidental.

Dr. Ernell Tumimbang, provincial health officer, said on Tuesday, September 6, that the program, which is part of the Department of Health’s “PinasLakas” nationwide campaign, was done since many elderly residents cannot go to vaccination sites in the lowlands.

“We have to go to the hinterlands. House-to-house is still the most effective way of looking for these seniors to be vaccinated,” he said.

The “PinasLakas” target is to vaccinate 90 percent of senior citizens and administer booster shots to a least 50 percent of the adult population by October 8.

READ: DOH: ‘PinasLakas’ won’t meet target

The Negros Occidental vaccination performance as of September 3 showed that 1,425,719 residents or 67.94 percent of the target have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the PHO reported.

The province needs to vaccinate 566,366 more residents to reach its vaccination target.

The province has vaccinated 1,532,055 or 73.01 percent of the target with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines, the PHO report also showed.