Digicast Negros

Let us expand vaccination to more groups officials ask, as Covid surges

Bacolod PIO photo

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said Tuesday, June 22, that Western Visayas officials are clamoring for more vaccines and permission to open up the mass vaccination against COVID-19 to more sectors.

“We requested if they will already allow us to vaccinate more, just like NCR (National Capital Region) Plus. We questioned why they have a different policy for NCR Plus, we are all Filipinos,” the governor said.

The target is to inoculate 70 percent of the population so if more sectors are opened up, the faster that target can be reached, Lacson said.

Only A1 to A3 priority groups, which include healthcare workers, senior citizens and people with comorbidities, are allowed to be vaccinated in Western Visayas.

At NCR Plus vaccination of economic frontliners under the A4 category started June 7, and the Department of Health has allowed the inoculation of those in the indigent sector – A5, if supplies are enough.

The delivery of 15,000 more Sinovac vaccines to Bacolod City and 10,000 to Negros Occidental expected on Tuesday has been moved to Wednesday, June 23.

The Department of Health will also inspect the Ultra Low Freezer of Bacolod City on Wednesday and if it passes the standard, the city will also be receiving 5,850 doses of Pfizer vaccines, City Administrator Em Ang.

Negros Occidental recently received 11,700 doses of Pfizer vaccines.

Lacson said the speed of the mass vaccination against COVID-19 in Negros Occidental is improving and he hopes the local government units get used to it because the national government is saying that by August a lot of vaccines will be arriving.

Lacson said for the past two days the number of persons hit by COVID-19 in Negros Occidental had been increasing and were more than those who were recovering.

The trend is going up again, he said, pointing out that in remote areas he has seen people not wearing masks.

He stressed the need for cooperation in the observance of basic health protocols to prevent the spread of the virus.

Negros Occidental had 74 new COVID-19 cases, 2 deaths and 234 recoveries on Wednesday, the Provincial Incident Management Team reported.

The province also had 1,803 active COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, it added.*

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