DOH: BARMM has lowest COVID-19 vaccination coverage of elderly

(FILE) Thousands of Tawi-Tawi residents flock to COVID-19 vaccination hubs in the province during the nationwide Bayanihan Bakunahan. —Photo from Facebook page of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Regional Government

MANILA, Philippines — The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has the lowest COVID-19 vaccine coverage of the elderly in the country, the Department of Health (DOH) said Saturday.

While all regions in the country have fully immunized over 40 percent of their A2 priority group or seniors, BARMM is at the bottom of the list of vaccine coverage for the said age group with only 46 percent.

“According to the latest vaccination report from the [National Vaccination Operations Center], as of June 29, 2022, ALL regions have fully vaccinated more than 40% of their A2 priority group/senior citizens,” the DOH said in a statement.

“BARMM has the lowest coverage with only 46% of the target population for A2 being fully vaccinated,” it added.

The government earlier attributed the low vaccine coverage in BARMM to the residents’ reluctance to get vaccinated.

Meanwhile, Cagayan Valley or Region 2 and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) have the most number of elderly with complete COVID-19 vaccine primary doses.

“On the other hand, Region 2 and CAR holds the highest coverage of fully vaccinated A2s at 92.8% and 90.7% respectively,” the DOH noted.

Based on latest DOH data, there are around 70.8 million individuals in the country who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

/MUF