DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, July 28 (PIA) -- A top official from the Provincial Inter-Agency Task Force-Emerging Infectious Disease (PIATF-EID) has directed local health units in Negros Oriental to fasttrack its vaccination rollout as COVID-19 cases in the province continue to drop.

Assistant Provincial Health Officer and PIATF-EID Incident Ground Commander Dr. Liland Estacion urged local government units (LGUs) here to take advantage of the decreasing trend of COVID-19 cases and prioritize its vaccination program rollout.

“Maayo dagway na mo-focus ta ug bakuna while mubo ang kaso para ang atong mga tawo ma-protected. Importante kaayo na (I think it’s important that we take advantage of the situation and concentrate on vaccination while our cases are still low to protect our people),” Estacion said.

In her virtual presser on July 27, Estacion reported 46 additional COVID-19 cases logged in the province.

The number of active COVID-19 infections in Negros Oriental started to drop on July 19 with 835 active cases, and continued to dip to 601 active cases as of July 26 and further down to 577 as of July 27.

More patients continue to recover from the virus in the province.

As of July 27, there were 71 additional COVID-19 recoveries registered in Negros Oriental, while the total number of recovered individuals is now at 9, 586.

With this, Estacion hopes that LGUs would intensify their respective vaccine rollout. 

She emphasized that the province could push for higher vaccine allocation if LGUs would also intensify their inoculation.

The Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) has finished injecting the single-dose Janssen vaccine from Johnson and Johnson's  to around 4,166 persons.

The mass vaccination event was held at the Lamberto Macias Sports Complex last week until July 27.

Estacion said currently, it is the LGUs' turn to inoculate persons under priority groups A1, A2, and A3 in their respective cities and municipalities with the same vaccine.

Baed on IPHO records, as of July 27, the number of persons who received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine has reached 60,091 while the number of individuals who have completed their vaccination with the second vaccine jab, excluding those who received Janssen, is at 29,635.

The province is currently at almost 5% of its target population for vaccination. 

Estacion again urged the public to be inoculated when it is their time to receive the vaccine.

She assured that more vaccines will be coming to the province in the coming days, including the second dose for those who have been jabbed with Sinovac earlier.

“Di lang ta magpili ug bakuna (Let’s not be choosy with the vaccines.) The best vaccine is what is available. Tanan bakuna pareho ra na ang epekto (All of them are effective)," Estacion said. (RAL/PIA7 Negros Oriental)