CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA)—As the vaccination rollout in Northern Mindanao (NorMin) continues, the fear of vaccine shortage also haunts local government units (LGUs).

To allay the LGUs’ fears, the Department of Health Region 10 (DOH-10) announced that NorMin is expecting more vaccines delivery in July.

“Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez told us in one of his TV shows that we will have a regular supply of vaccines for the next several weeks or months,” DOH Regional Director Dr. Jose Llacuna, Jr. said.

The vaccine czar's pronouncement was hailed by the health executive, who said that this is good news as the region pushes its vaccine rollout.

Llacuna said the influx of vaccines can meet the public's growing need for their jabs.

He said more vaccines started to arrive last July 12 with 10,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines for the region, in addition to the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce's purchase of 4,919 doses of the same kind.

Likewise, on 13 July, 1,500 doses of Sputnik V arrived intended for those who are due for the second dose.

On the same day, some 15,000 doses of Sputnik V and 6,000 doses of AstraZeneca also arrived at the Laguindingan Airport.

“We've already had vaccines arrival for two days in a row. With this trend, we expect a weekly supply of it. But as to the date of arrival and type of vaccine, we are still dependent on the schedule and what is provided to us [Region 10] by the national government,” Dr. David Mendoza, DOH-10 Local Health Support Division chief said.

Mendoza further said that 70,400 AstraZeneca doses arrived on July 15 at the airport.

Latest DOH-10 data showed that 103.08 percent of the target A1 category received their first dose but only 73.26 percent are fully vaccinated; the A2 category received 34.13 percent of their first jab and only 9.69 percent completed the two doses. For the A3 group, the region had inoculated 32.99 percent for the first dose and 8.91 percent of them completed the vaccination.

Mendoza said that despite a growing proportion of the Normin population getting immunized, herd immunity has a long way to go until it is fully achieved. The Department of Health is now urging everyone to get vaccinated. (JAKA/RLRB/PIA10)