DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, Aug. 16 (PIA) -- The Department of Health (DOH) Region 7 will push for additional vaccine allocation in Negros Oriental to be distributed in key areas including Guihulngan City where 80% of its population have yet to be vaccinated.

This was disclosed by DOH-7 Regional Director Dr. Jaime Bernadas during the Network Briefing News interview with Presidential Communications Operations Sec. Martin Andanar and Guihulngan City Mayor Carlo Jorge Joan Reyes over Radyo Pilipinas on Aug. 16. 

Reyes said many of his constituents are willing to be inoculated, however, their problem is the supply of the COVID-19 vaccines in their area.

“Ang vaccinated dire 3,680. Naa pa siguro sa 80% ang wala (mahatagan) og vaccine. Dyutay pa man ang gipadala dire sa Guihulngan City. Sana mabigyan pa kami ng vaccine (The number of vaccinated people here is at 3,680. Around 80% of the people here remain unvaccinated as the supply here is low. We hope we could get a higher allocation next time),” Reyes said.

The City Government of Guihulngan has prioritized senior citizens and Local Government Unit (LGU) personnel manning the city borders in its inoculation program.

In response, Bernadas said he will push for a higher allocation of the vaccines for Negros Oriental, including Guihulngan City, to accelerate the local vaccination program.

The DOH-7 chief was also asked during the interview if it is possible to for Guihulngan City to be given a separate allocation just like the cities of Dumaguete and Bais who get their vaccine directly from the National Task Force (NTF).

“The allocations come from the NTF. We will request for a separate allocation for Guihulngan. And we will coordinate with the province. It’s the province that allocates for them. We will request for more as soon as it is available,” Bernades said.

He emphasized that while the national government is prioritizing areas with high COVID-19 cases in the vaccination rollout, it does not disregard the provinces that also have existing cases.

“The final frontier is the vaccination program. Kami nakasabot tungod sa kadaghan sa kaso sa metropolis sila ang giuna apan dili sad nato kalimtan na ang mga probinsiya naa pod sila mga kaso (We understand the situation in the metropolis where cases are high, but we are also keeping an eye on the provinces that have logged local cases),” Bernadas said.

Meanwhile, the DOH-7 official urged LGUs to tighten their border controls, noting that they were granted full authority to implement border control measures to prevent the entry and transmission of COVID-19 Delta, which experts say is the most contagious variant of the corona virus.              

Reyes said their city government has already established border control points in Brgy. Luz and Brgy. Trinidad, which are entry points to Negros Occidental.

They have also tightened the screening of travelers at their seaport, citing that travelers must present a negative RT PCR result and approved S-PASS notice before they are allowed to enter the city. (RAL/PIA7 Negros Oriental)