The Negros Occidental provincial government is aiming to vaccinate 300,000 residents during the three-day national COVID-19 vaccination drive scheduled from Monday to Wednesday, November 29 to December 1.
The provincial government has created 18 vaccination teams to help its 31 towns and cities hit their 300,000 target, Provincial Administrator Rayfrado Diaz said Sunday, November 28.
They will also have a vaccination drive at the provincial government-owned food terminal at the North Capitol road in Bacolod City from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Diaz said.
The initial target set by the Department of Health for Negros Occidental’s three-day vaccination drive was 516,807.
“The DOH was willing to allow us to reduce the target they set for the province,” Diaz said.
The provincial government also vaccinated 3,441 persons, the majority of whom were minors, at Magikland in Silay City from Friday to Sunday, Diaz said.
The initial nationwide target of 15 million doses administered during the 3-day drive dubbed “Bayanihan Bakunahan” has been adjusted to nine million doses or three million doses administered per day, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., vaccine czar and chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, said in a virtual press conference Sunday.
Another round of national vaccination days will be held from December 15 to 17, he said.
FACE SHIELDS
Galvez also said they will look into the possibility of bringing back the use of face shields amid the threat of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
Omicron, which is potentially more transmissible, was first discovered in South Africa and has since been detected in Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Czech Republic and Hong Kong. No Omicron cases have been detected in the Philippines yet.*