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)
TACLOBAN CITY — A three-day campaign of the Department of Health (DOH) dubbed as “Bakunahang Bayan” against COVID-19 was launched inside a jail facility in this city on Tuesday, December 5.
As part of the ceremonial vaccination, 10 inmates or persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) were given booster shots.
The event was attended by Health Undersecretary Camilo Cascolan who once headed the police organization.
Supt. Delvin Oreiro, the regional director of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, said out of the 1,679 detainees across the region, 1,620 have been fully vaccinated.
Out of these fully vaccinated PDLs, 1,405 of them have received the first booster shot while only 947 have so far been given the second booster shot.
At the Tacloban City Jail, 538 of its 578 inmates were given the first booster shots while 478 of them were given the second booster shot.
“As of the moment, we only have 59 PDLs all over the region who remain unvaccinated because they were newly detained. But in the next few days, they will also be administered with the vaccines and the booster shots,” Oreiro said in an interview.
Coscolan said the DOH hoped to administer booster shots to more Filipinos to achieve their 50 percent target.
At present, more than 21.55 million of the 74.48 million fully vaccinated Filipinos were administered with booster shots.
“We will not stop until we reach our 50 percent target. That is why we are encouraging our (eligible) fellow Filipinos to have their booster shot. COVID-19 remains to be a threat,” Coscolan said.
Dr. Exuperia Sabalberino, the regional director of the DOH, said they have intensified their campaign to encourage fully vaccinated individuals to get the booster shot to achieve a “wall of immunity” from COVID-19.