TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, June 29 (PIA) -- The struggle to attain 30% vaccination of all eligible population in Bohol has been a challenge as vaccination teams and local authorities confirm that the target is dependent on the supply of the vaccines that arrive for inoculations.

The vaccination accomplishment would be largely dependent on the arrival of the vaccine supply, said Bohol Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) Spokesperson and Acting Provincial Health Officer Dr. Cesar Tomas Lopez during the recent Kapihan sa PIA.

As Bohol’s active coronavirus cases breached the 1,000 per day mark since June 11, medical and health authorities including local officials have reviewed their implemented protocols to curb the surge that has ushered in Bohol’s 78th COVID-19casualty, one year and three months after Bohol’s first noted case surfaced.

According to Lopez, as soon as a place attains 30% vaccination of the total population, it would experience a plateau of cases or what doctors refer to as "flattening of the curve."

With a population of 1.3 million Boholanos, 30% would be around 390,000 or close to 400,000 of the general population.

When the curve flattens, Bohol would not see a sharp rise in new cases and the deaths would also go down as more and more people get vaccinated.

But Lopez noted that the issue currently in the vaccination rollout is the staggered vaccine delivery, as inoculations are dependent on the availability of the vaccines.

Three months into the inoculations, Bohol has yet to see a full-paced vaccination rollout.

Should there be a good supply of vaccine for Bohol, Lopez sees a good accomplishment.

“Vaccinations teams are now becoming more efficient in the operational processes,” the assistant provincial health officer said.

He pegs that around 7,500 individuals can be jabbed at a daily average of 150 individuals per vaccine site from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in over 50 vaccination sites in the province. 

But vaccine teams said they can not sustain the operations if the allocated vaccines fail to arrive on time.

Since March 16 when the National Vaccination Program started its local rollout, Bohol has since achieved little over 59,000 with complete vaccination for the individuals to attain full protection.

Lopez, however, is optimistic that local inoculations can move with the arrival of vaccines on June 16, when Bohol received 5,000 doses of Gamaleya’s Sputnik, 11,700 doses of Pfizer, and 7,000 doses of Sinovac.

Five days into the vaccination, teams have started to give the first jabs of the estimated 7,500 tourism industry service stakeholders.

In its recent report dated June 28, the BIATF said some 2,404 tourism frontliners have been given their first Sputnik shots, and it would be a month more when they could get their second dose.  (RAHC/PIA7 Bohol)