The city government has asked officials of its 128 barangays to assist in making an inventory of unvaccinated residents and facilitate their vaccination against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) if needed.
Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan, in a phone interview on Tuesday, said the move is aimed at further improving the vaccination rate of the city, with 95.09 percent of its 281,000 eligible adult population now fully vaccinated as of January 15.
“They (barangay officials) can also help, like what they continue to do in informing their residents of the gains of the vaccine,” he said.
Despite the city’s high vaccination rate, Olowan said there are still some who refuse to receive the jabs due to several reasons.
While some cite religious beliefs and medical conditions in refusing to get jabs, others either just do not want to queue in vaccination centers, have trypanophobia or fear of hypodermic needles, or are just procrastinating.
Olowan, however, said the city government has to exert all efforts to reach out to the unvaccinated individuals.
Olowan said the city government has devised several means and methods to bring the vaccines to those who cannot go to the vaccination sites through the mobile vaccination teams under the Health Services Office.
He added that several vaccination sites were opened to bring the services closer to the people and to divide queues at the district and barangay health centers.
He said that several restrictions have been imposed on unvaccinated persons which could further limit their movements, thus the need to reach out to them and inform them of the benefits of receiving the vaccine for their protection.
Last week, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) directed all barangays to submit an inventory of unvaccinated persons in their localities.
DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya also said barangay officials have to prepare the inventory “on a monthly basis” and submit this to the DILG field office in their area.
This is in compliance with President Rodrigo Duterte’s order for barangays to ensure that unvaccinated persons will stay at home, as the country continues to see a surge in Covid-19 cases.
Source: Philippines News Agency
