4 Central Luzon provinces eye herd immunity by end 2021

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines — Four governors in Central Luzon are fast-tracking the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in their respective provinces to attain herd immunity before year-end.

Herd immunity happens when a big enough portion of the population has grown immune to a disease.

The vaccinations in the region would be done on barangay level using public schools and covered courts or going house-to-house if necessary, Pampanga Gov. Dennis Pineda said on Tuesday.

Pineda and other governors spoke during a regional forum with Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles.

Pineda said the local governments agreed to hire additional vaccinators to be trained by the Department of Health (DOH).

Bataan Gov. Albert Garcia said he was confident herd immunity would be achieved in two to three months through 20 vaccination sites in his province.

“We are looking to expand down to the barangays when supplies are more adequate,” Garcia said.

Jab availability

In Tarlac, Gov. Susan Yap said 1.35 million residents are targeted to be inoculated in six months in 20 vaccination sites.

Yap said they would inoculate 6,000 people a day to achieve the target.

But Zambales Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. said the rollout could face a problem with the availability or supply of vaccines.

“Aside from what we get from the national government, we have set aside funds to cover 50 percent, or around 800,000 of our population. Looking at a delivery this July to August, we might be done by the first quarter,” Ebdane said, referring to the mass vaccination in Zambales.

As of June 20, at least 868,620 doses of vaccines had already been delivered to the provinces and key cities in the region, said Dr. Corazon Flores, the DOH regional director.

Central Luzon has 122,336 confirmed cases, which is 19 percent of the country’s total, Flores said.

—TONETTE OREJAS