Shadow

WHO pushes for stepped up vaccination of Negros’ seniors

The Negros Occidental provincial government is stepping up its COVID-19 vaccination drive for the elderly population, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Tuesday, March 8.

“In Negros Occidental, there are still a large number of senior citizens who have not been vaccinated so that’s our target,” he said.

Negros Occidental has had the lowest performance in Western Visayas in terms of percentage rate of senior citizens vaccinated, the Department of Health-6 (DOH- 6) reported Monday.

World Health Organization (WHO) representatives who met with him and health officials of the province late last week pushed for the province to prioritize the senior citizens for vaccination, Lacson said.

The WHO team discussed providing Negros Occidental technical support for accelerating the COVID-19 vaccination for priority group A2.

The team is tasked to directly support the province to re-engineer strategies for the older population, as part of the strategy to strengthen its COVID-19 vaccination.

Only 49.48 percent or 133,400 of the 269,602 targeted 60 years old and above population in Negros Occidental have received the first dose the DOH reported Monday.

Meanwhile, 46.88 percent or 126,385 of the senior citizens in Negros Occidental have been fully vaccinated, it added.

Negros Occidental has yet to be placed under Alert Level 1 and the behavior of the people has already changed, Lacson said.

He said despite Negros Occidental still being under Alert Level 2 many people are going out, he said.

“We just have to remind them that the pandemic is still here and we need to continue to protect ourselves”, he said.*

Secured By miniOrangeSecured By miniOrange